Anuj Kumar of The Hindu reviewed movie and wrote "12th Fail film review: Vidhu Vinod Chopra delivers yet another hug of hope that is more earnest than magical."Read at source
12th Fail 2023 
Synopsis
12th Fail
12th Fail is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film directed, produced and written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and jointly written and edited by Chopra and Jaskunwar Kohli. It is based on the 2019 eponymous non-fiction book by Anurag Pathak about Manoj Kumar Sharma, who overcame extreme poverty to become an Indian Police Service officer, and Shraddha Joshi, who became an Indian Revenue Service officer and married Sharma. The film stars Vikrant Massey as Sharma and Medha Shankr as Joshi, alongside Anant Joshi, Anshumaan Pushkar and Priyanshu Chatterjee.
- Director
- Vidhu Vinod Chopra
- Release
- 27 Oct 2023
- Studio
- Zee Studios, Vinod Chopra Films
- Run time
- 146 min
- Language
- Hindi
Reviews
10 Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.
Critics' consensus
Generally Positive
Critics' aggregate for 12th Fail is 77/100 from 7 scored critic/publication reviews including Rotten Tomatoes.
Synthesized by AI (gpt-5-codex-omdb-enricher) from 12 source-backed reviews — verify against the linked sources.Common praise
- performances
- writing
Positive 10
Bhavna Agarwal of India Today gave 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "Vikrant Massey passes with flying colours on performance sheet".Read at source
Deepa Gahlot of Rediff.com praised the performance of Vikrant Massey and said "If Vikrant Massey does not win a National Award for this film, it will be unjust to an actor who has given a performance of such unalloyed brilliance."Read at source
Dhaval Roy of The Times of India gave 4 stars out of 5 and stated in his review that 12th Fail is an excellent film that is highly recommended, with nearly every scene over its 147 minutes leaving you feeling inspired and amazed.Read at source
Bidani of Zee News gave 4 stars out of 5, writing "Not to be hyperbolic, but 12th Fail might be just perfect.Read at source
Mayank Shekhar of Mid-Day gave 4 stars out of 5 and reviewed the film "This is the India story!".Read at source
Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times stated in her reviews that 12th Fail is a must-watch to understand not only the hardships and emotions that UPSC students go through, but it also sheds light on the overall education in our system, something that Chopra won hearts at with 3 Idiots (2009).Read at source
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and said "Its an original depiction of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer's life, 12th Fail is a thought-provoking and amusing film.Read at source
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote that "espite the background music and the occasional mood spikes, 12th Fail stays, for the most part, a film that cleaves close to ground reality.Read at source
Sneha Bengani of CNBC TV18 reviewed the film, writing "Vikrant Massey powers through this remarkable story of perseverance".Read at source
Media & trailers
Verified video records attached to this title.
Details
Soundtrack
- Bolo Na Shaan, Shreya Ghoshal
- Restart Swanand Kirkire, Shaan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shantanu Moitra
- Restart Raftaar
- Restart Swanand Kirkire, Shaan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shantanu Moitra, Raftaar
- Bolo Na Medha Shankr
Technical specs
- Release date
- 27 Oct 2023
- Run time
- 146 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- IN
- Director
- Vidhu Vinod Chopra
- Studio
- Zee Studios, Vinod Chopra Films
- Budget
- ₹20 crore
- Distributor
- Zee Studios
Trivia
- The film was produced on a budget of ₹20 crore and grossed over ₹69 crore worldwide, emerging as a sleeper hit.
- UPSC coach Vikas Divyakirti was cast to play himself on screen to add authenticity to the film.
- Real-life IPS Officer Manoj Kumar Sharma and IRS Officer Shraddha Joshi both made cameo appearances in the film.
- A major portion of the film was shot in the government job aspirant hubs of Rajendra Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar.
- The film won five awards at the 69th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.
- At the 71st National Film Awards, the film won Best Feature Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Vikrant Massey.
Tags
Hindi Cinema2023Hindi FilmReleasedHindi
