‘12th Fail’ is a captivating film that captivates with its story of determination, grit, and self-belief, opines Ruchira in a review, exclusively for Different Truths.

After quite a while, it was refreshing to watch a film that was different from the run-of-the-mill flicks of Bollywood. Based on the 2019 eponymous non-fiction oeuvre by Anurag Pathak 12th Fail is a 2023 Indian (read Hindi) film that may rightly be termed the brainchild of ace director Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

It is a dramatised version of the trials and tribulations of an ordinary youth, Manoj Kumar Sharma, who battled wanton poverty and other obstacles to emerge as an IPS officer. Hailing from the notorious Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh, the protagonist (Vikrant Massy) is the son of a clerk. His father, a brutally honest man, gets into a fracas with a corrupt officer and ends up being suspended.

Meanwhile, along with his batch mates, Manoj prepares to cheat openly in his Class 12 exams—a phenomenon rampant in the area. However, Dushyant Singh, an honourable local police officer, foils their attempts. Consequently, all the students failed the exam. The paths of Manoj and the super cop cross again when Manoj’s sibling is framed for assaulting a goon who happens to be a henchman of the local legislator. Dushyant bails out the poor fellow but advises Manoj to “stop cheating” and turn over a new leaf. Manoj is awestruck.

The following year, Manoj cleared his exams without cheating, pursued a graduate course in arts, and aspired to become a DSP. His dadi (grandmother) funds his dream projects with her lifetime savings as he leaves home to study in the nearby big town (read Gwalior). Unfortunately, a crafty female co-passenger decamps with his belongings while he is asleep on the bus. Penniless and hungry, Manoj roams about the streets until a local hotel owner comes to his rescue. Then he meets Pritam Pandey, a fellow civil service aspirant, and travels with the latter to Delhi to study and become a police officer.

The next part of the film delves into the intricacies of the experiences and hurdles faced by thousands of civil service aspirants in our country every year. This encompasses friendships, love relationships, feuds, betrayals, and miscommunications galore. Honestly, I feel that the underbelly of the UPSC exams, the ancillary study circles, coaching centres et al., has never been depicted on celluloid in such depth as in this film. The protagonist, who is both rustic and a simpleton, faces the rough and tumble of life in the metropolis. However, with sheer grit and determination, he manages to survive by doing odd jobs, and living in sub-human conditions, but refusing to give up. He sails through both prelims and the finals, albeit on the second attempt in each case.

How Manoj faces the final interview at the UPSC headquarters in New Delhi forms the climax of the narrative. In a no-holds-barred, candid manner, Manoj lays bare the seamier sides of corruption and malpractices rampant in the lower or underprivileged strata of society. The interview panel members are left bewildered! In this way, Manoj vindicates the confidence reposed in him by the honest police officer back in his native village.

All said and done, the film would have been a good deal better minus the songs and love sequences. But that’s for impressing crowds and raking in moolah…

Feature picture from IMDb

Ruchira Adhikari Ghosh

Ruchira Adhikari Ghosh brings a liberal, wide-ranging outlook shaped by extensive travel across India and abroad. Educated at Holy Child School, New Delhi, Sacred Heart Convent, Ludhiana, and Panjab University, Chandigarh, she holds a Master’s in English Literature and a postgraduate diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication. With three decades in media, she writes on travel, books, music, performing arts, women’s issues, and especially food, drawing inspiration from rich life experiences. She is our Features Editor.