It was a year of Jawan, Pathaan and Animal — films whose macho men, with beards and big guns, loomed large on the big screen. It was a year in which every other week, a blockbuster seemed to be haring towards the 300-crore mark. Amid all this, a comparatively ‘smaller’ film, with a protagonist far removed from alpha male violence, has won, and it’s a big deal. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s tale of grit, 12th Fail, is holding strong in theatres, even in its eleventh week. It’s an exceptional feat, given the film had its OTT release on December 29.
Based on the 2019 book of the same name by Anurag Pathak, 12th Fail tells the real-life story of Manoj Kumar Sharma who braved all odds to become an IPS officer. The lead role is fittingly played by Vikrant Massey, an actor, whose persona seems to blend wonderfully into the character. In various instances, the actor’s resilience seems to come through in the performance. “Somewhere, I saw myself in the story,” Massey said before the film’s release. His resolute portrayal of a boy from Chambal who battles poverty to crack the civil services exam touched the heartstrings of the aspiring Indian. Praise for him has been a long time coming.
On account of the nuanced roles he generally excels in, Massey might not come across as a song-and-dance actor but his foray into the arts started on stage. He had a dancer in him from the age of seven, which led to formal training at the Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts (SDIPA), where he grew so much that he began teaching the form. There aren’t many films (except maybe Ginny Weds Sunny and 14 Phere) that have showcased this side of him. In a conversation with us last year, Massey confessed that it was a conscious decision for him to step away from dancing. “I am not a trained actor, so I wanted to put all my energy into performing in front of the camera,” he said. “I might sound pompous as I say this, but even if somebody wakes me up from sleep and asks me to shake a leg, I can oblige.”
Massey’s journey started on TV with the 2007 musical sitcom Dhoom Machao Dhoom; next was the period drama Dharam Veer, in which he played the titular prince Dharam alongside Rajat Tokas, the small screen’s beloved Prithviraj Chauhan. His film debut came with Vikramaditya Motwane’s love story Lootera, in which he played a straight-talking sidekick for Ranveer Singh’s character. In Zoya Akhtar’s dysfunctional family drama Dil Dhadakne Do, Massey is an endearing Romeo-esque character trying to keep his love story under wraps. But his acting chops finally got their due in actor Konkona Sen Sharma’s debut directorial A Death in the Gunj. His layered performance as the introverted Shyamlal ‘Shutu’ Chatterjee left you grappling with a looming, harrowing feeling.
Massey brings easy relatability to his roles. You feel an air of gentle reassurance in his character. In Haseen Dilruba, he married these traits with wicked aspirations as Taapsee Pannu’s emasculated husband. Often, his on-screen innocence has been utilised to deliver twists, like in Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare and Criminal Justice. Although quickly snuffed out, he was the only voice of conscience as Bablu Pandit in the bloody world of Mirzapur. In a film where Bobby Deol is the executioner of interfaith couples (Love Hostel), Massey’s role of a Muslim man on the run left a heady impression. This is particularly true of a shootout scene, in which he displays both calm and feverish courage at once. “What I know for sure is that I want to be the common man’s hero,” he told us in an interview. “I want to be representing the voice of the voiceless.”
With 12th Fail, he has taken another giant leap towards fulfilling this desire. As young Manoj in the film, Massey brings forth earnest boyishness. The protagonist’s story, at times, seems to mirror the actor’s struggle for recognition. He once stated that people sometimes still consider him as a “TV actor”.
In the film, there’s a scene in which Vikrant recites a line from former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s poetry, Haar nahi manunga, raar nahi thanunga (I will not give up, I will not give in to altercations). He might as well have been breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly. In the final scene, as he reads his name in the list of candidates who cleared the exam, young Manoj gets weak in the knees and breaks down. That’s not just Manoj, that’s Vikrant too.