12th Fail — The Struggle Can Be Brutal, And Yet They Don’t Give Up
Perhaps the most important Bollywood movie of 2023
As always, I didn’t book our ticket in advance, and then my wife got busy on a call. I thought we would watch the next available show so I got back to mindlessly watching YouTube videos. But five minutes later she came into my workroom, while still on the call, and gestured for me to hurry, showing me on her mobile phone screen that she had booked the tickets. She changed her attire while I did the same and then we packed our lunch and filled water bottles. By then we were already five minutes delayed. We walked to the nearest mall for the movie, which took us 10 minutes. And by the time we got the QR of our ticket scanned on our phone, we were already 20 minutes late. That meant we missed the first 10 minutes of the movie. My wife spent five more minutes before she completed her call, while I sat at the stairs waiting for her because I didn’t want to watch more than her.
I hate to be late for watching a movie, more than being late for anything else in life. I wanted to tell my wife that we can afford to buy the tickets for the next available show in a different mall so we should skip this one and watch the full movie. But non-verbally she insisted we carry on and watch the movie show that she had booked. It was a miracle that I didn’t let my anger overpower me this time, perhaps because within ten minutes of watching the movie, I got hooked on it and enjoyed the experience. We did miss about the first 10 minutes of the movie but we didn’t miss anything important. This is what I like about a good storyteller, they know how to gradually build the situation so that even the late-comers don’t feel lost. I’ve noticed the same in many movies that the scene immediately after the interval is not a significant one so that those who are late to return or the delivery of snacks and drinks on the customers’ seat is complete by the time the good stuff begins.
After many years I watched a good Bollywood movie about human perseverance and how people can come together as a resilient support system to help the hero achieve a higher goal. This is a feel-good movie that takes the audience through the struggles of the hero and with every adversity that he overcomes, we want to cheer for him. I did hear the audience clap at a few instances during the movie, most of that coming during the last 15–20 minutes of the movie. The biggest takeaway of the movie is the zeal to ‘restart’ with renewed vigor after a massive failure.
The world-building feels real, the interactions between characters feel genuine and I almost forgot I was in a cinema hall, but was sitting beside the characters as the events played out. The casting and their make-up are done very well and the emotions they convey hit the right chord. Minimal use of background score ensures that the background sounds or silence enhances the realism of our experience. Not a scene felt wasted or out of place. It isn’t a long movie but the density of tumultuous experiences of our hero tends to tire the audience and his victory reinvigorates us. We leave the cinema hall renewed with hope.
Vikrant Massey was obviously wonderful. I also really liked the performances of Anshumaan Pushkar (Gauri Bhaiya) and Anant V Joshi (Pritam Pandey), particularly the short arousing monologue of Gauri Bhaiya. It was fun to watch Vikas Divyakirti sir as himself in the movie.
My favorite scenes (too many to pick from):
- When the hero encouraged his father to continue his fight through the court case he was fighting against corruption.
- When the hero meets his role model and source of inspiration at the end of the movie (best emotional pay-off).
12th Fail is perhaps the most important Bollywood movie of the year 2023 and must be watched by everyone. The trailer was exciting but felt rushed and stuffed. The movie experience is much better as it moves at the right pace. It is running successfully in cinema halls near you.
