12th Fail (2023)

I usually lament about the storytelling in Bollywood biopics, and I didn’t know what to expect when I went to watch ‘12th Fail’. I knew nothing about the storyline, but since Vidhu Vinod Chopra is associated with the movie (and there was strong word-of-mouth recommendation), I took a chance.
I am truly glad I did.

Based on a non-fiction book, 12th Fail is the story of Manoj Kumar Sharma’s life. Hailing from Chambal, he overcame school-level academic failure and poverty to eventually get selected to the Indian Police Service. The movie depicts the struggle of many students appearing for the UPSC (and how it differs from the PSC), and what it takes for some of them to do better than the others. For instance, the command over English is deftly tackled.

There is much to love about the movie’s writing, pace and authentic casting (for example, the UPSC tutor); I was particularly impressed with how some aspects of casteism were addressed. The Brahmin protagonist is shown cleaning toilets and working in an atta chakki to provide for himself as he studies – today, he would be eligible for the EWS quota. He receives ready help from a much richer Brahmin fellow-aspirant – something that eludes the oppressed castes. This friend later disrupts his love life by spreading false rumours to his girlfriend’s parents, but he chooses to forgive him.

Another gorgeous scene is when the rich friend tells a senior aspirant, “Isn’t it only 4 attempts for us?”. The senior aspirant replies with a smile, “You have a problem if we have 6 attempts?” The senior aspirant goes on to play a critical role in ensuring Manoj Kumar Sharma succeeds.

Even though his path to UPSC mains and interview was vastly different from that of Manoj Kumar Sharma, the movie reminded me of my upright father more than once. I was happy to see the UPSC Dholpur house, and I also wept copiously at many scenes.

The EWS quota and the NRI quota (both based on varying degrees of financial stability) get preferential treatment over the SC/ST and OBC quotas, and discussions about “merit” are barely done in the case of the former two. I recollect multiple discussions with my father on this, and am truly grateful for the role he has had in shaping up my views since childhood. He gives full credit to the UPSC and job content as the game changer when it comes to his views on caste.

I racked my brains to check why I found Vikrant Massey (he plays Manoj Kumar Sharma) familiar – I haven’t watched any of his other movies – and finally landed on the Cornetto ice-cream ad that featured him and Alia Bhatt.

Watch the movie. It is a sleeper hit, and I am very happy about that!