Since the dawn of civilization, we have been telling each other stories. Sometimes to make sense of what is happening and sometimes to imagine and hope. 12th Fail is a story of hope and imagination. Hope that there is a chance for the underdog. A story to allow us to imagine a better world, more just, more kind and less unequal. A society where Manoj does not have to toil to make two ends meet. A world where the wings of imagination are clipped and flights of hope are curtailed, is not the world we want to live in.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra, tells a masterly story of a boy from Chambal who decides to become a police officer after meeting a DSP who advises him that if he wants to become like him he should stop cheating. Rest of the film is about his journey and perseverance in face of immense obstacles. Pandey, his friend, calls him Adiyal, and it is this attitude that helps him achieve his goal. Vikrant Massey delivers a strong performance and once again proves his credentials as a great performer. Rangarajan, cinematographer, captures the spaces of Mukherjee Nagar, very aptly.
The story is about hope but also a predicament of the system that does not give fair chances to all. The sheer dysfunctionality of the public education system that has outsourced the responsibility of creating an ecology of opportunity for the underprivileged is at full display here. The education system, especially in neglected regions does not imagine itself as the harbinger of knowledge and reason in society. It is no longer interested in making citizens of tomorrow. All it cares about is to somehow allow people to survive.
Places like Mukherjee Nagar is ode to millions of students who toils day and night despite the dismal education that they have received. Although it is no cinematic masterpiece but an important story to tell.