12th Fail [dir. Vidhu Vinod Chopra]

Despite the glowing review from my go-to movie critic Baradwaj Rangan, I had reservations about 12th Fail. Based (at least loosely) on IPS officer Manoj Sharma's life, the film details the story of how he went from being a 12th class fail to successfully clearing the hyper-competitive Public Service Commission entrance hurdles. From that outline, it threatened to be like the numerous cliched Indian sports movies of the last 10 years, only without the sportsing. And how does a film generate excitement about someone passing an examination - Ticking the right answer box hardly conveys the viscerality of scoring a goal or smashing a cricket ball into the stands, right? This worried me.

The other factor was Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Chopra made a name in the late 1980's with his crime thrillers Khamosh (1986) and Parinda (1989). The low-budget Khamosh was a first-rate mystery that cleverly used its film-within-a-film conceit; Even in its limited release it garnered eyeballs, and the unveiling of its suspense was a tour de force discussed by fans years later. Parinda - a noir mixed with Bollywood sentiment - was script-wise shaky, but its technical chutzpah courtesy his frequent collaborators - art director Nitin Desai, DoP Binod Pradhan and editor Renu Saluja - impressed cinephiles.

Post-Parinda, Chopra became Bollywood's Golden Boy. Sought after by stars and handed massive budgets, his next project 1942: A Love Story - an escapist period drama almost 5 years in the making - reflected the bloat of his ambition. The technical wizardry was there, but the storytelling was a meandering mess. The man who at one point was poised to turn the course of Bollywood had succumbed to its excess. 2000's Mission Kashmir, which Kashmiri origin Chopra claimed to be a passion project, reduced complex terrorism issues to childish outbursts and cartoon villainy. This was enough to put me off his cinema, and it coincided with his own hiatus from direction. Chopra was now content to produce films, majorly those of protege Rajkumar Hirani (the Munnabhai franchise, 3 Idiots, PK, Sanju). The subsequent occasional forays he made into direction (Ekalavya, Shikara) did not interest me at all. Still, Rangan's review, coupled with the praise from my other trusted movie reviewer Deepa Gahlot, goaded me to take this one in at the cinema.

In 12th Fail, we first meet Manoj Sharma (Vikrant Massey) as a high school pupil in Chambal, a province of Madhya Pradesh in northern India historically (in)famous for its dacoit gangs. It is also notorious for rampant cheating in the board examinations, which is not only permitted but actively supported by the school authorities. After an honest police officer (Priyanshu Chatterjee) disrupts the operation, Manoj and his entire class end up failing their year. That same officer later comes to Manoj's aid when he and his brother are hassled by the constabulary for crossing a local politico's goons. Manoj is inspired by the upright cop to become one himself, a dream that eventually leads him to the challenge of clearing the public service exams.

The story could have been one of Rajkumar Hirani's projects (I would not be surprised if it had started out that way). But I suspect Hirani would have loaded it with cute catchphrases and artificial sweetness.  While 12th Fail has its own catchphrase in its repeated refrain of "Restart" it's used more sparingly. Also, Chopra at the helm brings in a lot more believable texture. It's not just in the production design, it's in the writing of the characters and the casting of actors suitable for the parts, instead of marquee names. The scale is deliberately kept small, detail substituting for scope. Manoj's dusty ill-lit village where he and his brother are suddenly burdened with maintaining the family, after their father (Harish Khanna) takes a suspension order for disobeying his corrupt superior's instructions, feels authentic. When he comes to Delhi, we are not given the scenic tour of the capital. Manoj's world is one of narrow crowded alleys, makeshift classrooms and dusty bookshelves. En route he has already lost the money his grandmother (Sarita Joshi) gifted him from her precious pension savings; he must clean toilets, mill flour and work other odd jobs to earn a living (the flour milling is also an analogy to the daily grind of his existence). These misfortunes are depicted with matter-of-fact restraint, focusing less on the tragedy and more on his resilience.

Vikrant Massey (Death in the Gunj) gets the lion's share of the applause for his committed performance in the lead part. But unlike other mainstream movies where the remaining cast is solely defined by their equation with the "hero", every character is etched and performed in a manner that transcends caricature. In a late scene, the aforementioned father meets with Manoj and tearfully breaks down over how his proud honesty has destroyed his family and that the poor can never hope to win. "But we can't admit defeat either," Manoj responds. Geeta Agarwal Sharma as Manoj's mother gets some memorable moments - check out the finely modulated scene of their encounter when Manoj returns home dejected after initial setbacks. Even the actor doing a one-scene part of a valet Manoj encounters when paying a surprise visit to his girlfriend in Mussouri comes off as a rounded individual instead of a stereotype.

As regards the girlfriend (Medha Shankar), this is in the end a movie meant for mainstream consumption; a romance angle is deemed mandatory. There are some gauche stumbles here, like when the girl Shraddha mistakes Manoj to be an aerospace engineer just because he is holding a book on that subject, which leads to a misunderstanding later. But Chopra and his co-writers keep it mostly integrated in the main narrative. Shraddha has her own little arc - she is an idealist that has quit medicine to join the IAS because she wants to ensure adequate treatment for the poor. While advancing on her path, she remains supportive of Manoj; without tomtomming feminist credentials, the film shows that the woman can be an equal, even superior partner in a relationship. The normally played-for-laughs 'hero ka dost' role is also depicted with greater nuance and substance: The easy-going Pritam Pandey (Anant Joshi) generously accommodates the struggling Manoj and backs him when he is down, but when Pritam's own fortunes turn, it affects his outlook and their bond of friendship. Again, this is handled in a credible and sympathetic manner.

Right from his early films, Vinod Chopra was regarded as an Indian Brian De Palma, a brilliant visual director. In 12th Fail his command over the form continues: DoP Rangarajan Ramabadran employs handheld tracking, overhead shots, complex pans, the works. And Chopra, who at one point created some of the most gorgeous images in Hindi cinema, is not afraid to use unflattering source lighting or grimy textures. It is an uncharacteristic yet welcome shift that feels more like the effort of a fresh and hungry filmmaker. More importantly, it is all in the service of the storytelling.

In a time when mainstream Indian cinema is regressing with its extended celebration of machismo jackasserie, it is wonderful to see films not about gym-bred jocks tossing off hordes of minions in slow motion with barely a scratch on their well-oiled pecs. Armed with only the grit to withstand life's trials, Manoj Sharma held steadfast and finally reached his goal. A similar determination to telling an honest story allows 12th Fail to make its place in our hearts. I award it a First Class.