Restart - Why Every Indian Must Watch 12th Fail

“Restart…”

12th Fail was lost in the racket of substandard movies back in October 2023. How many of us went to watch it in the cinemas? Only a handful. And yet, it has managed to become a phenomenon on OTT. With a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 12th Fail soars above all the recent releases. Is it Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s best yet? Probably. But more than anything else, 12th Fail has proven there’s still a place for good cinema in the hearts of the Indian audience. We are not backward, after all!

The recent productions coming out of the seedy mills of the likes of Sandeep Reddy Vanga have put an unwashable shit stain on the tapestry of Indian cinema. Our senses have been scarred. It’s impossible to unsee the luridness of travesties like Animal. 12th Fail is a pleasant respite. Right from the get-go you can spot Chopra’s cinematic inspiration for his magnum opus – Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali. Scenes like Ram Veer leaving his family in Morena to fight for justice in the High Court, or a young and lovelorn Manoj returning to the empty room of his deceased grandma all pay tribute to Ray’s magnum opus. Even Shantanu Moitra’s background score alludes to the Apu Trilogy. Ray never made another film like Pather Panchali. None of his later productions could match the Apu Trilogy in sheer brilliance. Chopra has given us his best in his twilight years. From Parinda and Mission Kashmir to 3 Idiots, and now 12th Fail, Chopra’s filmmaking has aged like fine wine.

12th Fail is a must-watch for every Indian because of its central motif. It’s not poverty porn 12th Fail is gunning for. What the movie so brilliantly captures is the triumph of the millions of hungry mouths of our nation in the personal victory of one individual – Manoj Kumar Sharma, IPS. What the movie also does is show us a mirror – our colonial hangover stops us from acknowledging the vernacular medium as a valid source of knowledge. We so look down upon someone coming from the Hindi or Bangla medium. Our high risers and posh hotels have no place for someone with the scent of our soil in their sweat. We would happily give the elbow to a qualified person who doesn’t know English in favor of a chirpy, smart-talker with limited knowledge.

12th Fail is also about resilience. Chopra gave us the “All is Well!” punchline in 3 Idiots. He has given us a better one with “Restart.” Restart – because it’s never too late. Restart – because it ain’t over till we are six feet under. Restart – because there’s always a reason to wade through calamities. Restart and reboot and relive our dreams – that’s what we ought to do as the smartest animals on this planet.

My eyes welled when Vikrant Massey’s Manoj fell to his knees, crying tears of joy on finding that he had cracked the final round of the UPSC tests. I know I would have done the same. I know because I am a small-town man trying to make it big in the hum and din of the metros. No amount of praise suffices to acknowledge Massey’s performance. He is brilliant. He is stellar. He quashes Bollywood stardom under the bootheels of his acting prowess. I loved him in Mirzapur. I rooted for him in Criminal Justice and Love Hostel. I am celebrating him in 12th Fail. It’s as if the script was written for him, waiting to be immortalized by his Midas touch.

Medha Shankar is good, her nuanced acting complements Massey’s acting chops. Anant V Joshi’s Pandey is spirited and Anshumaan Pushkar is commanding as Gauri Bhaiya. Who can forget Gauri Bhaiya’s inspirational monologues? Pushkar leaves his mark once again after Grahan and Jamtara. The OTT platform now bristles with talent, so much so that Bollywood stars are finding it hard to compete with them. When you see Kareena Kapoor Khan struggling to keep up with Vijay Verma and Jaideep Ahlawat, you know Indian cinema is in good hands.

12th Fail shows us there’s more resilience in rustic India than dreamt of in the Indian metros. It serves to reignite the passion to crack India’s toughest exam in our youth. I would be surprised if 12th Fail doesn’t make it to the Oscars this year. But then I’d probably be heartbroken once again, considering that Sardar Udham wasn’t even sent for the Oscars. Oscar or not, 12th Fail will forever remain one of the finest examples of Indian filmmaking. ?

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