Film Review: 12th Fail

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about a film review on a movie "12th Fail".

Introduction: 

The movie "12th Fail" is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama. Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced, wrote, and directed the film, which is based on Anurag Pathak's 2019 non-fiction book of the same name. The story revolves around the real-life journey of Manoj Kumar Sharma, who triumphed over severe poverty to achieve the rank of an Indian Police Service officer. Vikrant Massey plays the lead role, supported by a cast including Medha Shankar, Anant V Joshi, Anshumaan Pushkar, and Priyanshu Chatterjee.

Plot of the movie:

Manoj Kumar Sharma, born in Chambal, faces hardships as his father, an honest clerk, is suspended. Despite early attempts at cheating in exams, a twist by DSP Dushyant Singh changes the course. His dreams of becoming a DSP face setbacks, but with support from unexpected quarters, he redirects his efforts towards UPSC. Along the way, he overcomes personal and academic challenges, including a turbulent relationship. Manoj's determination prevails as he becomes an IPS officer, marries Shraddha, and supports his friend Pritam's pursuit of a career in reporting.

Theoretical Framework:

Caste Dynamics : 

Here in the movie we find that the main character belongs to the “Sharma”. Which is considered as a role model in the Indian good grading system. In many contexts we find the “Sharma ji ka beta” doing a great work compared to any other children in the school. In the very first scene we find the teaching about honesty by the father of Manoj Sharma. He has a government job and his father was also a soldier. So it still can't be considered as a backward class in India. But in social norms without money it is hard to survive.

In backward villages the education system is too bad. One can also observe the power of local politicians in the movie, how they run the illegal business legally in the local area. Fighting against the wrong things seems to develop in heritage. But if a person would have belonged to a tribal or social backward class the scene would be different, the journey would be different. 

Feminist Reading:

When we look at the movie applying feminist approach, there is very less importance given to the female character. The female protagonist asks permission from her father to meet the person she loves and asks permission of leaving the town when she already had cracked IRS exams. When we put any male character there, it would be a different picture. Men never have to ask permission for doing something. The expectation of society towards ideal women can be observed in the movie. When Shraddha says “If you become IPS officer or flour mill worker I will marry you” shows that society wants to make women like this. The woman who takes care of her husband in every situation. But Shraddha also proves herself by cracking the exam, becoming independent that shows the positive side of the story.

Contextualization:

In the very first scene in the movie the protagonist is shown making chits for the exam. And at the school teachers write paper on the board that shows the education system of backward villages in India. And the sad reality is that these types of schools are run by politicians who are in power so it becomes difficult to take actions against them. Even in several scenes the local transport system is also in the hands of that politician. This shows the harsh reality of India. And it is quite true that in many villages even in the cities these types of activities are still happening. Nowadays education has become a business where private universities are selling degrees. For example in our Gujarat there are several colleges that give the degree certificate of B.Ed without caring for the training or regular classes. As we know it is a training and if these types of teachers come into the classes of the next generation where would the next generation go? So it shows the reality of the education system of India.

Nowadays there is a trend of saying that I am preparing for government exams. There are lacs of coaching institutes that run only on these exams. But the question is: Can government recruit these many people ? If not then what about those who fail. India is a country of young people but are we producing students who can get jobs in the market? No then where the youth is going. And in the exams like IAS and IPS, it is rare that someone can clear it, because they are the toughest exams in India. But still there are too many people who are preparing for these exams.

There is one dialogue in the movie that says “ If I can't become a sun who shines the whole earth I will become a lamp and shine the street.” But these types of mentality can be rarely seen in aspirations. Most of the people want to be an officer because of the power, uniform and facilities. Their inspiration is to be powerful, not serving the country. When these types of people become an officer what change will they make in the society because they themselves are corrupted.

Thematic Study:

In the movie the main theme we find is education and struggle. Second, we can observe love and relationships. As the title of the movie suggests, the journey from 12th fail to IPS officer. From the beginning we observe the school system and then the competition in getting government jobs too. We observe the education system, students don't know that they are cheating. Teachers themselves write a paper on the board to maintain a good result for the school. This shows the reality of the real world and getting out of that system is too difficult for people like Manoj, who belongs to a lower-middle class family. But still he struggles and proves his true calibre.

There is another theme like a relationship. How mutual understanding can help people to grow. Not only the live but friendships also can have its own level that is shown in the movie. In the family, We can also observe that they support Manoj even in very difficult situations. Hardship and struggle make him go all the way towards success.

Comparative Analysis:

If we compare the film with the film ‘Super 30’ by Vikas Bahl we can observe many similarities and differences. In both of the movies we find the same theme education, same struggle and same background. This film is rather contemporary to us and “Super 30” is the story of the late 20th century. 

In “Super 30” there is a close discourse of the class system that we don't observe in this movie. In “Super 30” there is a fight of several castes too that even the clever students are not able to study because of poetry as well as the caste conflict but in “12th Fail” there is only a fight to the corruption and poverty. In both the films, there is a reference to the privatisation of the educational institutions and the people who have money can get better education or coaching compared to the poor people. In both the movies there is a family support. 

Conclusion:

Overall the movie is quite good. It is a story of a common man becoming an IPS officer, journey to zero to the hero. Comparatively the movie has an impact to take society forward. It highly criticised the educational system and it also throws light on bad usage of political power. The movie gives a good message and also gives a realistic touch of Manoj Sharma’s struggle. I would give 7.5 out of 10 stars to the movie.

Words: 1307

Photos: 07

Refrences:

Super 30. Directed by Vikas Bahl, 12 July 2019.

12th Fail. Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 27 Oct. 2023.