12th Fail

Vikrant Massey-starrer cleaves close to ground reality, with characters that makes you feel that they’ve wandered off the street, dishing out life-lessons laced with dollops of inspiration.

A warm, if sentimental, paean to the idea that success in India, despite endemic corruption and the caste system, can still be achieved through meritocratic means.

12TH FAIL is a nicely told, touching underdog success story. Well played and technically at a high level. But it also focusses a bit too much on its inspirational note and I struggle to fully accept its message and worldview.

[The movie loves romanticising struggle and is] willing to glorify everything and be like keep struggling — his motto is 'repeat, repeat.' What do you mean [by] repeat? For what objective? To what end?

Above all, 12th Fail is a paean to Vikrant Massey’s astronomical amounts of sincerity.

It’s unimaginably refreshing to see Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his team go back to the basics, employ long takes, use sound design to translate the emotions on-screen, and cut between scenes in, let’s say, a poetic fashion.

An emotionally resonant saga of determination and hope.

Vikrant Massey shines in this underdog story bolstered by Vidhu Vinod Chopra's conviction.

Vikrant Massey delivers a superlative act in this pure and honest tale of success and failure.

At a time when the moral compass of our films resembles a roulette wheel, here comes an inspirational tale that truthfully celebrates probity in public and private life.