Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Cast: Vikrant Massey, Anshuman Pushkar, Anant Joshi, Medha Shankr and others
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 3 stars
Writer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s latest film is about the never ending struggle of an IAS in making Manoj Sharma and his love story attached to it.
Underprivileged and 12th Fail Manoj (Vikrant Massey) aims to become big enough someday without realising the repercussions of it.
Vidhu delves into a the life journey of a guy, who hails from Chambal and how he transforms into a confident human is what 12th Fail highlights. But as cliche it may sound, why a female and a love story is the driving force behind every man’s success, and Manoj is no exception.
Manoj, shifts his base in Delhi in order to clear the IAS mains but with consecutive failed attempts, he confides in his love story with Shraddha Joshi (Medha), who is also living the dream of becoming Deputy Collector. But what happens when the two collide with each other at the stake of their respective careers?
Vidhu, who is inspired to create a feature out of a book couldn’t do much about the actual journey of Manoj’s life story. His first half is solid but the moment love story arrives, it overshadows the whole purpose of the film. The moral of a story can’t be passionate or burning love.
Wonder what is that one thing that triggered Vidhu to form a visual presentation on Manoj’s regular life. However, the film has moments of joy and sadness but if Vikrant’s powerful act is to be kept aside, the film is a lot lighter than the current version.
Vikrant does it yet again. He is just so good as a common man. His portrayal has honestly, consistency and sincerity. Anshuman Pushkar is a complete stunner. He manages to clone the character aptly. Anant Joshi is enjoyable as a narrator and contributes a lot more than the rest.
Debutante Medha Shankr is promising. She really walks the show with the winning crown— a great debut to say the least.
12th Fail is watchable minus the sugar coated romance element of it.
