12th Fail Review: Vikrant Massey delivers a superlative act in this pure and honest tale of success and failure

12th Fail Review: Vikrant Massey delivers his career best performance so far in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s new film about UPSC aspirants. Sometimes it’s the underdog story that strikes the right chord, and writer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra brings his mastery into play in his latest outing, 12th Fail. Based on the novel of the same name by Anurag Pathak, it chronicles the journey of Manoj Kumar Sharma from Chambal, who despite being a 12th drop out sets out to prepare for the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) exam, considered one of the toughest.

Chopra uses this inspiring and exciting tale as his canvas and paints it with several emotions – of pain, anger, failure, victory, helplessness and confidence. Starring Vikrant Massey as Manoj, who’s shown to have taken up low-paying jobs at a tea stall, then at an aata chakki and in between he even cleaned toilets, 12th Fail doesn’t sugarcoat anything and presents the scenario as raw and real as possible. And it surely will resonate with thousands and lakhs of students who prepare and appear for the UPSC exam year after year – while a few make it, others ‘restart’ and give it another shot. Chopra tells us about the restart funda for UPSC aspirants much early on in the film, and sticks to it almost throughout, till the very end, weaving it subtly at various stages in the film.
Genre:Action, Drama
Director: Maneesh Sharma
Cast:Vikrant Massey, Medha Shankar, Anshuman Pushkar