Blog: Dear Daughter, Like '12th Fail', We All Need Our Lifelines, Our Crew

My Dear Ira,

I can't shield you from the -30°C temperatures you are experiencing in Canada right now, but I may have helped rescue you from the crazy stress of India's competitive exams. The numbers are staggering - last year over 20 lakh students took the NEET exam, 11 lakh appeared for IIT-JEE and GATE, and almost 12 lakh youngsters took the UPSC CSE Prelim exam.

All these youngsters, perhaps India's finest minds, gunning for just a few thousand seats.

UPSC, NEET, IIT-JEE - Heartbreak Guaranteed

It essentially means - heartbreak is guaranteed for most, annually, and they are left wondering what's wrong with them. When there isn't. Just for comparison - the population of the entire province of Manitoba in Canada is 14.4 lakh, and it's not a small place, it's three times the size of Uttar Pradesh!

A lot of this ties up with the Vikrant Massey film '12th Fail', which you missed because when it released in cinema halls in India late last year, you were in Canada. But now, it's available on OTT, so do watch. Mujhe toh badi achchi lagi! (I really enjoyed it!)

'12th Fail' and Manoj Kumar Sharma 

It's a bitter-sweet movie, the true story of Manoj Kumar Sharma, who cleared the UPSC exam to become an IPS officer against very tough odds - coming from a very poor economic and educational background, from Madhya Pradesh's Chambal region, known to be a lawless and backward area. Unable to afford coaching classes that most candidates take, Manoj took up menial jobs to survive, working by day, studying by night, finally getting an amazing rank of #121 in his 4th and last attempt at the exam.

On the way, Manoj was supported by some amazing people, and even though his own effort was super-human, he may have reached nowhere without this 'support' system. The film brings home this life-lesson touchingly well. Btw, several spoilers coming your way. You may want to watch the film before reading this. Lol!

First Lifeline - Pandey

First, there's 'Pritam Pandey', played by Anant Joshi, who practically adopts Manoj when he's stranded at the Gwalior bus stand, with all his money stolen. Pandey takes Manoj to Delhi, tells him about the UPSC exam, helps him grapple with the 'entrance exam madness' that reigns in Mukerji Nagar, adjacent to Delhi University. Pandey introduces Manoj to key people like Gauri Bhaiya and Deep Mohan. Pandey helps Manoj financially at critical junctures; Pandey is always there to keep up his spirits, even as he fails miserably in all of his own attempts at the exam.

The cool thing is that the real life 'Pandey' - author Anurag Pathak who now lives in Indore - and Manoj Sharma, are friends and in touch, even today, 20 years later. In fact, the film is based on Pathak's novel "12th Fail", which tells Manoj's story, on which Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra has based the film.

Second Lifeline - Gauri Bhaiya

Then there's Gauri Bhaiya, played by Anshumaan Pushkar, of Jamtara fame (where he played Rocky, remember?). Gauri is this unbelievably positive and helpful veteran UPSC hopeful, who takes any candidate who can't afford regular coaching, under his wing. He fails his own 6th attempt, but instead of losing heart, he starts a 'dhaba' in Mukerji Nagar, and dedicates himself in the efforts of other candidates. After Manoj fails to clear the UPSC Main exam in his 3rd attempt, Gauri puts him up at his tenement, and takes care of his every need so that he doesn't have to work and can focus on the exam.

It seems too good to be true, but Manoj's determination and passion draws in people to support him. Even so, Gauri and Pandey do also represent the ugly underbelly of the entire UPSC exam ecosystem. The 'failure rate' is gigantic, the 'success rate' is minuscule, and while the film charts Manoj's unique success, the larger story is that of the lakhs of students who don't make it, spending the best years of their life trying to crack an exam they may not be cut out for.

Mukerji Nagar or Kota, Same Story

Family pressure, peer pressure, and India's chronic lack of non-government jobs in the hinterland - all these push them to stay obsessed about this 'mother' of all exams. Many of those who fail never recover their shattered confidence. And tragically, for some, it is such a matter of life and death, that when they fail repeatedly, or just due to the sheer pressure of preparation and expectation, they choose death by suicide.

When you were in school, I remember you having really vigorous discussions about students who head to Kota during Class 11 and 12 to prepare for various entrance exams, and how even that pressure cooker environment has led to several deaths by suicide among students at an even younger and more vulnerable age. I'm glad you have made slightly different choices Ira, and I'm glad we, as a family, could support those choices. Some can't, and some don't.

Manoj's Third Lifeline - Shraddha

Luckily for Manoj, in his life there was Shraddha (played by Medha Shankar), giving him uncommonly unconditional love and support. In an India where a vast majority of people are so 'status' conscious, Shraddha doesn't let it matter that Manoj is underprivileged, that he works as a cleaner at a library, and later, as an 'atta chakki' labourer to pay for his stay in Delhi.

What's awesome is that unlike the benevolent Gauri Bhaiya, who is 'semi-fictional', Shraddha is the real deal. These were the actual tough choices that the real Shraddha made, and that to me, is wow! In fact, the real Shraddha Joshi Sharma not only cleared the Uttarakhand PCS exams in 2005, to become a deputy collector, as we see in the movie, but also cleared the UPSC exam in 2007 to join the Indian Revenue Service.

The list of Manoj's 'crew' is long.

We All Need A 'Crew' 

There's his spunky Dadi, played by veteran Sarita Joshi, who has unlimited faith in Manoj and simply hands over all her savings to him after the family has sold its last cow in trying to support the cost of his studies up to graduation. His upright father, his stoic mother, his brothers and sister - each ready to draw their 'chappal' to beat up anyone who casts an aspersion on their honesty - who never lose faith in him.

DSP Dushyant Singh of Bilgaon in Chambal's Morena district, whose priceless advice to Manoj - to walk away from the institutionalized cheating that's rampant at local schools - sets him on his path to chase his UPSC dream. Young IAS officer Deep Mohan, who regrets talking down to Manoj in the past, and is later mindful about making it up to him - gives him important advice on how to tackle the exam tactically.

Tutul, who is Gauri Bhaiya's helper, and just as enthusiastic about looking after Manoj and keeping him well fed while studying. There's also the library peon, himself a UPSC aspirant decades ago, who also looks out for Manoj while he works and studies at the library.

And crucially, at Manoj's UPSC Interview, while the head of the panel ridicules him and his honesty, there are members who have the spine to stand up for Manoj and point out that the UPSC would itself invite ridicule if it turned away candidates like Manoj.

So, after this spree of spoilers about '12th Fail', the simple takeaway is just this - All us, even the best of us, we need our 'Crew' to support us, to cheer us on, to offer us precious timely advice, to be our moral compass, to be in our corner when the times are tough. And believe me, in everyone's life, such times do come.

Stay warm, stay good.

Love, Papa

(Rohit Khanna is a journalist, commentator and video storyteller. He has been Managing Editor at The Quint, Executive Producer of Investigations & Special Projects at CNN-IBN, and is a 2-time Ramnath Goenka award winner.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.