One has the star power of SRK behind it, the other, a real life story with performances that reach out to touch audiences. One projects the hopes and agony of thousands who dream of a better future, the other, set in the grit and determination of many, represented by one man, and a dream for a better future – are Dunki and 12th Fail telling the same story on a different canvas?
It is no surprise that in a post covid world, where the common man has witnessed the deepest despair of the human soul, should rise two movies that tell the story of human dreams and how lives are made or broken to accomplish them.
It is also no surprise that they be vastly different from one another. Stories can be told in many ways, and these were two different ways.
For the uninitiated, let’s recap on Dunki and 12th Fail so we can get on with the stories within the stories.
The Story Within The Stories
Dunki is a movie about illegal immigration. Taking the “Donkey route” or Dunki simply means using unlawful means, through local, unlicensed agents to attempt to cross borders into countries that may promise a better future for economically challenged or persecuted individuals. They see no way out than to risk their lives and leave their families to try this last ditch effort at making something of their lives and the generations to come.
There was hardly a moment in the first half of the movie where one didn’t let out a giggle, a laugh or a smile. The second half, had many tears.
This was Shahrukh Khan’s and Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki.
12th Fail is a movie that is the story of one man’s fight against an English medium system (and more than just that) to pass the most coveted and competitive exam in the nation, The IPS – Indian Police Services, and to do this without the usual privileged resources at hand that marks the win for many in this system. How our hero Manoj Sharma aka Vikrant Massey, does not lose hope against the system is the story.
This is Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Vikrant Massey’s 12th Fail.
Audiences are comparing the two narratives, both of which are being lauded as immensely moving, with stellar performances and storytelling to match.
Here’s What You Need To Know
Ye hum sab ki ladai hai, ek ka jeet hoga na toh karodon bhed-bakriyon ka jeet hoga.
Gauri Bhaiya in 12th Fail
When Gauri bhaiya utters these lines in 12th Fail, one wonders at the desire of the human soul to rise above and beyond its present and seek a better future for the many whom we might not ever meet, but who live deep inside us, every day, firing our passion to do more and better, for it is in a lone yet shining story of heroism and miracle, that they tie their hopes.
Similarly when we hear these lines in Dunki:
“Humne majboori mein apna ghar chhoda tha. Warna koi apne desh, apna parivaar, apne doston ko chhodkar kyun jayega sarhadon pe goli khane.”
Dunki
The words fall like a silent mantra for all those souls who depart their shores due to dire economic conditions at home, dreaming of a better future, knowing, there are chances they won’t make it, but willing to take the risk, or the plunge, as they say – to do or die!
Manoj Sharma in 12th Fail rises from the ashes to beat the odds and surpasses all of life’s obstacles to achieve a dream his entire village will salute him for one day (both figuratively and literally). But this man carried a glint and die-hard spirit in his eye from the beginning. And he needed all of that spirit in his “Hindi medium” interview, his courage to come face to face with the English medium prejudices of the system that prevents people like him, those who know the ins and outs of the system, those who have experienced the system, and those who can, truly, fix the system, because they are the system, in a way, and who are denied that chance to shape a major part of it!
Manoj Sharma won hearts and more.
But hold on, that doesn’t mean Hardayal Singh Dhillon aka SRK of Dunki, or rather, Manu Randhawa aka Taapsee Pannu and her cronies weren’t far behind. If Manoj laboured day and night to beat the system, these Dunki characters, hailing from extreme poverty and lost hopes, also risked all to give their families a better future. If Manoj’s hard work paid off, so did theirs, if Manoj and Shradda’s life story is an onscreen version of the real Manoj and Shradda, then Manu, Balli, Sukhi and company’s is a tribute to all those who lived or lost their dreams – either way, they tried.
Where we met the real life Manoj and Shradda in a post reveal at the end of the film, we were also reminded in Dunki, of the misery of all those who cross borders in severely unsafe conditions, risking their life, merely to provide for their families – 12th Fail spoke of the misery of the common man and his will to succeed against all odds.
So did Dunki.
12th Fail highlighted the prejudices within our system to filter the deserving from the pre-set standards we try to fit them into, leaving no place for those who might defy the standards yet, are equally capable or deserving. Dunki highlighted the prejudices of the international law, immigration laws and border controls in granting access and livelihood to those who seek a better future due to economic hardships in their own countries and how, these laws can be bent or worked around, but not without asking for the ultimate sacrifice from their victims – to give up their homeland, families and past lives.
Both Dunki and 12th Fail are stories that challenge the system we live in, to reveal the holes in that system, and both tell the story on a different canvas.
If anything, the win here is for Indian cinema, to have catered to mass audiences in two entirely different story lines that didn’t just rely on a fictional tale. In both films, the common man sees himself onscreen – visions of Sukhi in Dunki attempting to grapple with the English language, a plague left behind by colonialism is no different from Manoj in 12th Fail who mistakes tourism for terrorism.
What’s Different?
Yet if there is one thing that sets the two films apart, it is in the casting. As Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s casting choice Vikrant Massey revealed, a win-win for Manoj Sharma’s role:
“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.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vikrant is not your star quality, saleable commodity, but he is, what the character reflects – an authentic representation of a real person in the larger scheme of big Bollywood magic. And he proved that one hundred percent in the movie!
The audiences have their sympathies for Vikrant because, he, like his character in 12th Fail, Manoj, surprised audiences with a mind-blowing performance!
Dunki Was All Star Power From SRK To Vicky Kaushal
But is that so bad?
Shahrukh Khan and Taapsee Pannu shape the narrative of a star-studded movie that, despite telling an intense story, injects humour, light moments and SRK fairy dust and magic to a movie that audiences flocked to, to watch more of the superstar.
Dunki also handed out a first half run time that made one laugh at the inanity of local practices, laughing at ourselves for all the hare-brained schemes we undertake to achieve that prized visa on our passports – and of course, for those who saw it, the narrative was softened to make it more marketable and watchable. But that’s okay, because the second half delved deeper into the story. Every storyteller tells it his own way.
12th Fail was a surprise in a box. Unexpected, un-propped by mega-marketing, yet delivering 100% on all fronts. It was the grit and staying power of one man – Manoj Sharma supported by a group of people who carried him throughout his journey, it was his story that spoke to the masses from the poverty-ridden, backwaters of a populace that can only dream of passing a coveted exam – the Indian Police Service – a privileged club for the English speaking elite of the country.
At the end of the day, it is, perhaps not fair to compare the two narratives. Both serve to pay tribute to the courage of the common man and human spirit and how, when all else fails, one can either rise to meet the system head on or fall prey to its many booby traps, ending up in a downward spiral to nowhere.
Both films dared to hold on to a dream – the dream a common man dreams, when he is left with nothing else but his will to survive.
When the likes of Manu and her cronies reach the other side, the real story goes, that families back home, often erect a symbol over their homes, on rooftops, to show the locals that a family member has succeeded in making it abroad – a show of pride perhaps?
When the likes of Manoj Sharma pass the IPS, his family stands tall, and is respected by all in the local community as having achieved what many of them dare not even in their wildest dreams to achieve, ever.
Which One Is Better?
So when you ask, which was better, Dunki or 12th Fail, I have to say, watch both. Because stories of hope need telling, and the more stories we listen to, the more hope we will have. And hope is, after all a rare commodity in today’s post-covid world.
So what if SRK’s Dunki has a bit too much magic and less poverty. So what if Vikrant Massey is the utmost non fake manifestation of the real Manoj Sharma – the stories they both represent are real.
If they make even a slight dent in our ever so sad world – for one less migrant not to die before his dream does, and one more deserving candidate to clear the most competitive exam in the country, well, because, language should not be a reason not to – they have done what they set out to do.
Movie Credits
12th Fail, a cinematic masterpiece brought to you by Vinod Chopra Films in association with Zee Studios. Inspired by a million true stories, this compelling film is written, produced, and directed by the visionary Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The stellar cast, including Vikrant Massey, Medha Shankr, Anshuman Pushkar, Anant Vijay Joshi, Geeta Agarwal, Harish Khanna, Priyanshu Chatterjee, and Vikas Divyakirti, brings these stories to life on the big screen. With Yogesh Dhabuwala as the Co-Producer & Associate Director, Jaskunwar Kohli as the Co-Writer & Associate Director, and Aayush Saxena as the Associate Writer & Associate Director.Anurag Pathak also contributes as an Associate Writer.
Dunki,directed by the acclaimed Rajkumar Hirani, boasts a stellar cast including the charismatic Shah Rukh Khan, the talented Taapsee Pannu, the seasoned Boman Irani, and the versatile Vicky Kaushal. Presented by the powerhouse collaboration of Jio Studios, Red Chillies Entertainment, and Rajkumar Hirani Film.
