Vidhu Vinod Chopra on ‘12th Fail,’ why he cast Vikrant Massey, and Ingmar Bergman’s three commandments

Romantic idealism is what defines Vidhu Vinod Chopra. His latest work, 12^th Fail, is a reflection of the heart that the veteran filmmaker often wears on his decorated sleeve. Chopra swears by Swedish great Ingmar Bergman’s three commandments on filmmaking: “Thou shalt be entertaining, thou shalt obey thy artistic consciousness at all times, and thou shalt make each film as if it is thy last.:

“The second is the most important for me. I can’t sell my soul. This film is about our lives; yours and mine,” says Chopra as we strike up a conversation on the moving account of Manoj Kumar Sharma, a real-life officer of the Indian Police Service, who cracked the country’s most difficult exam, overcoming unimaginable odds without letting them dent the pride in his honesty. “This story not only needed to be told, but also had to be expressed in a pure way to not look or sound filmy,” says Chopra, explaining his motivation to helm a film, eight years after his last directorial Broken Horses in 2015.

The lack of routine cinematic frills means there is judicious use of a background score, composed just with a sarod, a flue, and a sitar. “I didn’t want the filmy dhain dhain to spike up the emotions,” he chuckles, adding that the background score plays only when the scene almost gets over.

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More importantly, it also means that the story of an unlikely hero deserved four years of Chopra’s life. “It is about what I believe in. I wanted to tell the students across the country that failure should not emaciate their spirit. It is possible to restart whatever the circumstances are. Hatash nahin hona hai (you don’t have to become despondent). That is why this is the first film that we have dubbed in all the south Indian languages. I have never done that, not even with 3 Idiots.”

Narrating the backstory, Chopra says he got attracted to the struggles of IPS Manoj Kumar Sharma, that have been put between covers by writer Anurag Pathak. He collaborated with Pathak and Vikas Divyakirit who runs a popular institute for civil services aspirants, particularly those who come from the Hindi medium background, to give shape to the script.

Manoj’s story also echoed Chopra’s hardships in the formative years of his life. “I was introduced to the English alphabet in the sixth standard. By the eighth class, I could hardly make simple sentences. When I went to film school, I didn’t know how to converse in English.” Is he not the filmmaker who gave us Broken Horses and quotes Bergman? “Yes, I have broken the barrier but my heart lies in the Hindi world. All the literature that I read was in Hindi. The bottom line is that we can’t be labeled inferior. As Manoj says in the film, we have climbed the Everest without oxygen.”

The father in the film, Chopra says, is based on his father, who was an honest insurance agent. “I am my father’s son. Our parents give us values. I urge youngsters not to give up on those values because of the system we are in.”

His love for Hindi is also the reason, he says, as the popular poem by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Haar Nahin Manooga, became the leitmotif of the film. “He is a glorious example of how a Hindi-speaking man can excel without being cynical. In fact, we wanted to shoot in the school where he studied, but could not do that because of logistical issues. So, we opted for a nearby village in Morena district in Madhya Pradesh.”

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Managing the logistics was also a concern when he wanted to shoot in Mukherjee Nagar, New Delhi’s coaching hub. “I stuck to my conviction even if it meant managing a crowd of 5000 people. We created the set of a tea stall in the midst of a bustling market. Usually, we do it in a studio, but the effort was worth it,” says Chopra, excitedly showing a behind-the-scenes video on his iPad.

On casting Vikrant Massey in the lead role, Chopra agrees the talented actor is not a saleable face in the mainstream market. “But he is the only actor who could have done this film. There is a dialogue in the film where a coaching institute executive tells Manoj that big actors might not consume tobacco, but they still advertise it. I needed an actor who doesn’t sell tobacco. Otherwise, the film would have looked fake.”

An ode to civil servants who value probity in public life, Chopra says, we have become so sceptical that we have forgotten that honesty still works. “We know there are more corrupt officers than honest. The debate is that not everybody is corrupt, and there is no point in being bitter about one’s cherished values. There was a public servant who helped us during the shooting. When she read the script — on the last page, I had written that the film is dedicated to the handful of honest officers thanks to whom our constitution and country are safe — she had tears in her eyes. She thanked us for acknowledging officers like her and letting the world know that they exist.”

Vidhu Vinod Chopra on the sets of ‘12th Fail’

After watching the film, he says, one senior executive of a streaming platform said that the film was good, but people like Manoj didn’t exist. “I had to tell him…. look carefully, I exist. I could have made more instalments of the Munnabhai series, but instead I gave four years to 12^th Fail.”

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He goes on to underline that he hasn’t sold the film to any OTT platform yet. “I could lose out on a few crores, but it is my money.” Similarly, he adds, the film deserves a tax-free status, but he won’t plead for it. The fact that the film talks about the cheating mafia operating under political patronage might also scuttle its chances. “Well, the film shows how I see a section of the politicians. The film also pays tribute to Vajpayeeji who was a politician.”

In its storytelling, the film reminds one of the Munnabhai series and 3 Idiots. Chopra avers it is not a conscious effort, but those projects are also his babies. “You can see a reflection of me in all my films. Denge jahan ko wohi, jo jahan se payenge (I will give back to the world, what I receive from it).”

As we part, we ask him about his future plans. Chopra says he is 71, and once again invokes Bergman to say, “If I die today, I will die a happy man. But then there are two more scripts on the drawing board waiting to be finished…”