12th Fail

12th Fail is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film directed, produced and written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is based on the 2019 eponymous non-fiction book by Anurag Pathak about Manoj Kumar Sharma, who overcame extreme poverty to become an Indian Police Service officer, and Shraddha Joshi, who became an Indian Revenue Service officer and married Sharma. The film stars Vikrant Massey as Sharma and Medha Shankr as Joshi, alongside Anant Joshi, Anshumaan Pushkar and Priyanshu Chatterjee.

Released theatrically on 27 October 2023, 12th Fail received widespread critical acclaim and emerged as a sleeper hit, grossing over ₹69 crore (US$8.2 million) worldwide on a ₹20 crore (US$2.4 million) budget. At the 69th Filmfare Awards, it won five awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor (Critics) (Massey). At the 71st National Film Awards, the film won 2 awards: Best Feature Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Massey).

Plot

Manoj Kumar Sharma, the son of a clerk, lives in corrupt, dacoit-infested Chambal. His father, an honest man, is suspended for hitting a corrupt officer. Manoj and his batchmates prepare cheat slips for his Class 12 exams, supported by the teachers. However, a newly transferred police officer, DSP Dushyant Singh, stops cheating at the school. As a result, all the students fail the exam.

Manoj's father travels to challenge his suspension in court while Manoj and his brother run a traveling rickshaw to support the family. When his brother hits local henchmen of an MLA, he is framed on false charges of smuggling alcohol. Local police officers attempt to frame his brother, but Manoj bails him out with the help of DSP Dushyant, who implores Manoj to "stop cheating" to become like him.

One year later, Manoj passes his exams without cheating and pursues a B.A. to become a DSP. His paternal grandmother gives him all her savings as he sets out to study in Gwalior, but his belongings are stolen by a passenger when he falls asleep. He learns that the government has decided to stop the examinations for MPPSC for the next three years, destroying his dream.

Struggling without money and food, Manoj is given a free meal by the owner of a local hotel near the Gwalior railway station. He meets Pritam Pandey, who also came to study for the PSC exam. Pandey's father calls him and tells him to prepare for the UPSC exam in Delhi. Manoj learns about UPSC and travels with Pritam to Delhi to study and become an IPS officer. He meets Gauri Bhaiya, an aspirant with one attempt remaining, who provides Manoj with a job and a place to study. Gauri Bhaiya fails his final attempt and opens a tea shop named "Restart". He also provides guidance to other UPSC aspirants.

Manoj fails the preliminary examination on his first attempt, but with Gauri's help, he reappears and clears it the following year. During a visit to a coaching centre, he meets Shraddha Joshi, a UKPSC aspirant, and falls in love with her. One day, she visits him in the library and assumes he is an aeronautical engineer because of the book he's holding, which he does not correct. Manoj fails to clear his main examinations that year due to a trivial mistake and his relationship with Shraddha is strained when she learns that he is a literature graduate. Disheartened, Manoj travels to Mussoorie to apologise to Shraddha and confess his love. However, she bluntly tells him to return to Delhi.

Manoj visits his home and finds that his grandmother has passed away. He returns to Delhi, determined to pass the examination. Manoj works in a flour mill to earn money to send home and cover his own expenses. Shraddha arrives to their coaching class in Delhi and apologizes to Manoj for being rude and they reconcile. Manoj passes the preliminaries, and Shraddha expresses her love for him.

Gauri moves Manoj to his own house so that he can focus on his studies. He finally clears the main examinations, and Shraddha clears her UKPSC examinations. Pritam, who failed his exams, spreads rumours to Shraddha's family that she has been sleeping with Manoj. Manoj confronts Pritam but realises that Pritam aspired to be a reporter, but his father pressured him to pursue the UPSC. Manoj advises Pritam to stand up to his father.

During the interview round, Manoj honestly admits that he initially failed 12th grade because he couldn't cheat. The head interviewer rejects him, but the others are impressed by his honesty and ideals. Two months later, the results are declared, with Manoj qualifying for the rank of IPS officer. One year later, Manoj, now an IPS officer, meets DSP Dushyant Singh at the police station in Mandsaur to thank the DSP for encouraging him. He marries Shraddha, and Pritam begins working as a news reporter.

Cast

Production

Development

In November 2022, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra announced the film, based on the novel Twelfth Fail, by Anurag Pathak. The film is inspired by the real life story of IPS Officer Manoj Kumar Sharma and IRS Officer Shraddha Joshi.

Casting

In November 2022, Chopra announced that actor Vikrant Massey will play the lead, marking their first collaboration. UPSC coach Vikas Divyakirti was cast to play himself on screen. Many real life UPSC aspirants were cast in various roles. According to Massey, it added "authenticity" to the film. Sharma and Joshi both made a cameo appearance in the film.

Filming

The film is shot mainly at various locations in Agra, Chambal, Delhi, Mussoorie and Mumbai. A major portion of the film was shot in the two education hubs for government job aspirants, Rajendra Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar. The filming was wrapped up in December 2022.

Release

Theatrical

12th Fail's teaser was released on 10 August 2023, while its trailer was released on 3 October 2023. The film was released in theatres on 27 October 2023 in Hindi and Kannada languages. After the success in Hindi, the makers announced that the film will be dubbed in Tamil and Telugu languages and was released on 3 November 2023.

Home media

The film started streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from 29 December 2023.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by Shantanu Moitra while lyrics are written by Swanand Kirkire and Raftaar. The film's background score by Moitra, with its use of sitar and flute, was inspired by the score by Pandit Ravi Shankar in the Bengali film Pather Panchali (1955).

Reception

12th Fail received critical acclaim. Massey's performance was particularly praised. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and said "Its an original depiction of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer's life, 12th Fail is a thought-provoking and amusing film. A really sympathetic story is produced by the screenplay. It avoids any kind of extravagance in order to extract every last bit of drama from the bump and tumble of the man's journey." Mayank Shekhar of Mid-Day gave 4 stars out of 5 and reviewed the film "This is the India story!". Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times stated in her reviews that 12th Fail is a must-watch to understand not only the hardships and emotions that UPSC students go through, but it also sheds light on the overall education in our system, something that Chopra won hearts at with 3 Idiots (2009).

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote that "[d]espite the background music and the occasional mood spikes, 12th Fail stays, for the most part, a film that cleaves close to ground reality. With characters that make you feel that they've wandered off the street." She adds, "[i]t's not just the main cast, but the numbers of the young who gather in the hot-spots rife with coaching centres, such as North Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar: all these multitudes, crowding into tiny rooms, far away from their homes, cramming day and night to get through the exams in the hope of becoming something more than who they are, is such an India story." Deepa Gahlot of Rediff.com praised the performance of Vikrant Massey and said "If Vikrant Massey does not win a National Award for this film, it will be unjust to an actor who has given a performance of such unalloyed brilliance." Dhaval Roy of The Times of India gave 4 stars out of 5 and stated in his review that 12th Fail is an excellent film that is highly recommended, with nearly every scene over its 147 minutes leaving you feeling inspired and amazed. Bravo to Chopra for making sure each character in the film is given their best chance. Bhavna Agarwal of India Today gave 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "Vikrant Massey passes with flying colours on performance sheet".