12th Fail

 The world too often seems like a dishonest one.  Despite sayings like "Cheaters Never Prosper" cheating seems like the most certain way to get ahead.  "12th Fail" is based on a true story where one man was able to succeed honestly despite a slew of obstacles. 

It starts in a small Indian village where cheating is a way of life.  We are shown a teacher giving answers to an upcoming exam.  The police approach and are handed a large amount of money.  The police reject the bribe and take away the teacher.  He had explained that no harm was done, that his students would get some sort of menial job and life would go on.  

Manoj Sharma, the protagonist had cheated, but he felt his father's honesty had been punished.  Complaining to DSP Dushyant Singh he was listened to but the advice was simply not to cheat.  The advice was taken to heart and impacted Manoj's life.  He refined his goal to being an ISP police officer, but the odds are overwhelming.

With almost no money he kept asking questions, offering to do menial labor and above all being honest.   He is guided to the need for coaching and at first runs into a dishonest one, but he meets his future girl friend, Shraddha there.  Coaching in critical and he lands with a more honest one, but there is much hard slogging.  His coach is one who has failed in the tests, but passes on what he has learned.  Manoj fails 12 times, partly because he cannot study as much as needed.  All the time he is told to take short cuts, but he sticks to his plan.  At the end he is questioned and tells the blunt truth.  The head interviewer doubts and mocks his honesty, ut other interviewers recognize his honesty is very refreshing. 

Helping him are a few friends and above all Shraddha who comes from a higher caste.  Except for one misunderstanding she sticks with him through thick and thin.   In the end he passes and we see him as an honest police officer who upturns others being dishonest.  Based on a true story it has been uplifting for its viewers.

At the time of researching for this blog IMDB had a high rating of 9.1 from over  101,000 raters.  Pretty impressive, but the film does seem to merit an exceptional rating. Here are some of the people responsible.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra is the director and co writer and co-editor.  He has 18 credits as a writer, 18 as a producer and 12 as a director.  His credits include "Parinda" (1989), "1942: A Love Story" (1994), "Mission Kashmir" (2000), "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S." (2003)  "Eklavya" (2007), "3 Idiots" (2009) and "PK" (2014),  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/03/pk.html

Jaskunwar Kohli is a co-writer and co-editor.  He has 6 credits with the camera and electrical department, 5 for cinematography and 5 for editor.

Shantanu Moitra provided the music.  He has 51 credits for composing and another 11 for music department.  His credits include   "Laaga Chunari Mein Daag" (2007) "3 Idiots" (2009), "Lago Rao Munna Bhai" (2006), "Inkaar" (2013), "Madras Cafe" (2013), "PK" (2014), "Pink" (2016) and "October" (2018).  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/11/pink-sensitive-film-to-deal-with-consent.html

Rangarajan Ramabadran is the cinematographer.  He has 15 credits including "Ek Ladk Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga" (2019).

Vikrant Massey played Manoj Sharma.  He has 39 film credits including "Dil Dhadakne Do" (2015), "Ginny Weds Sunny" (2020), "Chhapaak"(2020) and "Hassen Dillruba" (2021).

Medha Shankr played the loyal girl friend Shraddha.  She has been a model and a singer.  She has 6 credits.

Joshi Anantvijay played a friend who helped with money and encouragment.  He has 10 credits including "Cobalt Blue" (2022) and "Kathal:  A Jackfruit Mystery" (2023).

Anshuman Pushkar, played Gauri, the failed coach who nonetheless was helpful.  Trained in the theater.  He has 6 film credits.

Priyanshu Chatterjee played DSP Dushyant Singh, the police officer who stressed the importance of not cheating and re-directed Manoj's goal.  He has 56 acting credits including "Tum Bin...Love will Find a Way" (2001) and "Bhoothnath" (2008).

Mukesh Chhabra helped with the casting.  For all the significant roles there was a requirement for at least 35 actors to test with the one exception being for the role of Manoj Sharma.  After studying acting he spent over six years teaching and acting.  He is noted for bringing such faces as Rajkummar Rao, Sushant Singh Rajpt, Mrunal Thakur, Prateik Gandhi, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh to the screen.  He has 223 credits for casting (+ 29 for the casting department and 29 for acting) including "Amal" (2007), "Kai Che Po" (20130, "Wrong Side Raju" (2016), "Mom" (2017), "Sacred Games" (2018-19), "Sanju" (2018), "Notebook" (2019), "The Family Man" (2019), "Dil Bechara" (2020), "Laal Singh Chaddha" (2022) and "Dunki" (2023). For a film where Mukesh had a lasting impression check  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/05/kai-che-po.html

This film is capable of inducing tears and wild cheering.  Available subtitled on Netflix.

"PINK" A SENSITIVE FILM DEALING WITH SEXUAL CONSENT

Many regard India as old fashioned, maybe even backward.  Gender attitudes are not considered modern in a Western sense.  "Pink" is a mind opening event for those of us who think we are "modern."  The movie drew a lot of attention being given a special screening for the Mumbai Police Department and has been used by politicians wanting to strengthen a new law. protecting women's rights.  This movie offers a lot of reasons to watch as it unravels mysteriously and dramatically, but it really is noteworthy for its message.

"Pink" is not so much about sexual assault, but more sexual harassment and gender equality.  The movie starts off with three women in the back seat of a car and three men in another car, one of whom has a bandage over his eye.  Soon we learn that one of the women had broken a bottle over the head of the bandaged man and the men felt entitled to revenge.  As the men are well connected they turn the tables claiming the girls had propositioned them and got violent when the men refused to pay.  The one woman, Minal is charged with attempted murder.

Some of the surrounding events were witnessed by a neighbor who it turns out is a retired lawyer on medication for a bi-polar condition.  His wife is bedridden.  He gives some advice to the women and later decides despite being on medication will represent them in court.  His first responses in court seem pathetic and we guess he must be too drugged.  However the court case becomes more intense with both prosecution and defense putting forth well prepared cases.

In a clever manner the defense lawyer strips away claims of provocation commonly used to defend sexual assaults:  the clothes she wore, her previous sexual experience, drinking alcohol and smiling in a friendly manner.

Amitabh Bachchan plays the retired lawyer.  My interest in Bollywood came after his hey day and he seemed to play a lot of unlikable characters, but I have since come to appreciate he is a great versatile actor who is always looking for good roles and incidently one of the most popular actors in global history.  Amitabh in his 70's wants to keep active and appears in many movies and tv shows, but they aren't all masterpieces.  He is excellent in this role and helps boost the credibility of this film.  Read more about Abitabh http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/05/amitabh-bachchan-living-legend.html

As the senior well established actor and with the initials A. B.,  Amitabh would normally be credited first, but in the interests of gender equality at his suggestion the three main actresses are listed first. They were all believable in difficult roles.  They were accused of being prostitutes and gold diggers, but in their words they were really "normal."  Tapsee Pannu was slightly more prominent and has been in a number of Bollywood movies and one Tamil film I had seen, but hadn't really noted her name.  Kirti Kulhari had a prominent role in a movie I enjoyed, "Shaitan" (2011).  Andrea Tariang was in her first movie.

Dhritimin Chatterjee plays the judge. He acted with Amitabh in still another excellent movie, "Black" (2005) and one of my favourites, "Kahaani" (2012).  Anglophones can see him in "The Man Who Knew Infinity" (2015)

Piyush Mishra plays a stern and tough prosecutor.  He is mostly a supporting actor and is very good.  I was surprised to learn he has also been a lyricist, a composer and a playback singer.  In an earlier favorite this year he played a storyteller in "Tamasha" (2015) an excellent movie about storytelling.  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/02/tamasha-wonderful-story.html

Directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdbury who mostly has been involved with Bengali films and helped write the script.  Ritesh Shah also helped write the script and had contributed to "Airlift" (2016) "Kahaani" (2012) and "Te3n" (2016).   He will be writing dialogue for "Kahanni 2," another movie on my list of movies that must be seen.

A very key person in developing this film and promoting it is Shoojit Sircar, listed as creative producer.  He was involved with the story line, costumes and arranging special screenings.  Earlier he directed two favorite movies of mine, "Vicky Donor" (2012) and "Piku" (2015).  Read about Vicky Donor compared to a remake  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/04/vicky-donor-cf-dharala-prabhu.html

The music from Shanatu Moitra is in the background.  I have come to love much of the music in Indian movies, but realize most Westerners think song and dance is not realistic.  India has cultivated a lot of excellent composers and musicians and for decades they focused on song and dance routines that to outsiders seem an intrusion for a story.  To some extent most sense that music enhances emotional feelings.  This movie has no song and dance routines, but music plays a role in setting a mood.  I have enjoyed movies with Shanatu Moitra  ("3 Idiots" (2009) is a classic as is "PK" (2014)) actually bought one song from iTunes and remember a few other tunes.  Read about "PK" http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/03/pk.html

New Delhi is the setting and it appears a stately city, but a strong criticism is implied.  Amitabh, himself suggested he wear a face mask in many scenes to direct attention to the pollution.

During the end credits, the filmmakers elected to show us what really happened at the critical moments.  No surprises, but the point was the exact details didn't matter.  The women should have had their word respected.  The timing was appropriate as the plot unraveled gradually while the message was being felt more directly.

*SPOILER ALERT*

At the end of the trial the defense lawyer is asked if he has a closing statement and he hesitates for awhile and you imagine he is under medication after all the stress, but finally he says "no" and then after another long pause goes on to say "No is a complete sentence" and 'No' means no."  He comments that any one who says "no" whether a girl friend, a wife or a sex worker should be respected.  In this version the accused is let off from a charge of attempted murder and the three men are charged with mischief.  It seems poetic justice and hopefully will be accepted by all society, whether in India, Canada, United States or elsewhere.