Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s biographical drama ‘12th Fail’, starring Vikrant Massey and Medha Shankar in the lead, received both critical acclaim and commercial success. The film, based on the 2019 book of the same name, showed the life and struggles of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma. Now after its massive run in India, the film is now gearing up to release in China.
Speaking about how he is releasing ‘12th Fail’ in China in a big way, Chopra told Variety, “I was invited to Macau by Marco Mueller for the Asia-Europe Young Cinema film festival. We had a standing ovation in China. And for me that was very gratifying. There were Hindi dialogues, and I of course couldn’t read the subtitles in Chinese. But the way people were clapping, the audience’s reaction was incredible. I have no doubt that this film will do very well.”
“Not only in China, but in every market where there is struggle… where, like in the movie, there is a big government job that you can get through exams and then that changes your life. Where that one exam changes your life forever. Wherever that is… of course in China, in Korea… wherever that is, the film will do very well, because the people will relate to the struggle of the protagonist,” he further added.
Recalling the film’s success in India, Chopra further mentioned how it’s because of its honesty that the film connected with so many people. “Each film has its own god, and it’s always a mystery what that god does for that movie. For me, all I can say is perhaps because it’s an honest film, made with honesty and it propagates honesty… and in today’s world, honesty is really in short, short supply,” he said.
Last but not the least, he talked about how he is disinterested in the film’s business and focuses on his artistic vision. Chopra stated, “I’m just going to make movies all my life till I’m alive, and hopefully those movies will find their place everywhere, in cinema halls, on streaming platforms, wherever. I’m not interested in the business of cinema. I’ve never been.”
He signed off by saying that he wishes to make movies till he is 100 years old, thereby calling Clint Eastwood his inspiration, because all he wants to do is make movies.
