Vikrant Massey and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail is an inspirational and motivational film based on the life of IPS Officer Manoj Kumar Sharma. Bollywood has been delivering back to back poor content and in between that 12th Fail has emerged as a good film amidst all those bad films. The film has successfully passed the exam with good grades.
Vikrant Massey has delivered his career best performance in 12th Fail. It feels like we are watching actual Manoj Kumar Sharma on-screen and not Vikrant Massey. Vikrant has completely surrendered himself to this character. The way he behaves, the way he delivers dialogues, his accent, his personality, his attitude is on a different level. Vikrant makes you feel for him, celebrate for him and cheer for him. He connects you mentally and emotionally to the character with his splendid performance. Words will fall short to praise the amazing transformation done by Vikrant. Vikrant has not only played the role of Manoj Kumar Sharma, but each and every individual student out there who aspires to be something.
Medha Shankar plays the role of Vikrant’s love interest in the film. We all need a support system like her in our life. Medha acts naturally and her chemistry with Vikrant is simply outstanding. Anantvijay Joshi gets a solid character to showcase his amazing talent. He has done a wonderful job. The supporting cast is amazing and have acted naturally throughout the film.
12th Fail is based on a true story and has been treated in a realistic way. The film scores good marks but has failed to answer some questions.
There are some flaws which cannot be overlooked. The love story of Vikrant and Medha could have been presented in an intellectual way. The film passes in showcasing Vikrant’s responsibility towards his family. The film also balances the part of Vikrant studying and working in shifts. The educational struggle of Vikrant could have been presented well. The educational qualifications of Vikrant could have been shown in a convincing way rather than directly jumping to the conclusion. In this realistic world, VVC tried to play safe and added unnecessary melodrama in between which has slightly hurt the narrative.
12th Fail could have been a sensational film if the makers would have taken care of these flaws. The script had a huge potential to be a classic.
12th Fail successfully motivates all the students who want to achieve something in life. The film scores full marks in inspiring people.
The character of Vikrant is seen cleaning toilets, working in a library and working in a flour mill to financially support his family. All these hard-hitting scenes will make you emotional. The final scene where Vikrant passes the interview and finally becomes an IPS will make you cheer out loud for him. The film beautifully captures the emotional journey of the character and scores full marks.
Compared to the web series ‘Aspirants’ which had a similar theme, 12th Fail gets a 2nd rank. Aspirants was a web series and hence it had a long runtime which gave the makers a good scope to present things more systematically. In terms of showcasing the struggle of the character and emotions, 12th Fail puts Aspirants behind.
There are some flaws in characters in 12th Fail where they behave immature in some scenes which makes us think that how can an intellectual and educated person be dumb? These characters needed smart writing. The 147 minutes long runtime seems like a little problem. A short trimming of 10-15 minutes would have made the film better.
The climax of 12th Fail is outstanding. Vikrant Massey shines with his powerful performance in those last 20 minutes. The interview scene is simply amazing and inspiring. The climax of 12th Fail will stay with you for years.
Where the majority of students (filmmakers) are failing in exams (Bollywood), 12th Fail has successfully passed the test and that is what matters the most. 12th Fail should be watched for Vikrant Massey’s unmatchable hard work and dedication to his craft. The film is like a mirror to every individual out there who wants to become successful in life. 12th Fail deserves your attention at least once to celebrate the power of education.
Rating – 3/5*
