Anurag Kashyap Calls Vikrant Massey's 12th Fail 'Benchmark', Says 'For Film-Makers Like Me Who Are Feeling Lost...'

Vikrant Massey is undoubtedly the chameleon actor of Indian cinema. The versatile talent has consistently delivered good performances over the last many years, and with his last year’s release, 12th Fail, he has won billions of hearts on the basis of his performance as Manoj Sharma in the real-life-based film directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. As the film continues to heap praises, Anurag Kashyap called the film a ‘benchmark’.

Taking to his Instagram handle on Friday, Anurag Kashyap shared the poster of the film. He wrote, “Probably the best mainstream film I’ve seen in 2023 @vidhuvinodchoprafilms at the age of 71 has crafted a masterpiece out of a simple story of an adamant man wanting to be more than what life gives him. He goes and takes what he wants and how. What amazed me about the film is how he breaks all conventions of mainstream and has scenes done in simple long shots.”

A post shared by Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap10)

He added, “The crowd scenes of Mukherji nagar which feels like the camera just happened to watch the story unfold without disturbing the atmosphere. It just felt like we were fly on the wall witnessing the film unfold. The sparse background score, something that mainstream cinema always shows from. The faith the filmmaker has in himself and his actors and his storytelling that he doesn’t use the BGM to manipulate the audience or the emotions.”

Calling it a benchmark, Anurag Kashyap continued, “A filmmaker at the peak of his storytelling and at this age. Means I have hope too. A new benchmark has been set by VVC for filmmakers like me who have been feeling a bit lost. Kudos to the whole team who I don’t know and all the actors. Especially @vikrantmassey @medhashankr @anshumaan_pushkar @anantvjoshi and the cinematographer Ranga, the production designer and the music directors and writers.”

“A filmmaker at the peak of his storytelling and at this age. Means I have hope too. A new benchmark has been set by VVC for filmmakers like me who have been feeling a bit lost. Kudos to the whole team who I don’t know and all the actors. Especially @vikrantmassey @medhashankr @anshumaan_pushkar @anantvjoshi and the cinematographer Ranga, the production designer and the music directors and writers,” he concluded.

The film was a monstrous success at the box office, with a collection of 80 crore+, and it ran for more than two months in cinemas. Following the massive success at the ticket window, the film recently had its digital release, and it drew a large audience on the OTT platform. The film has beaten several biggies, including Hollywood films like Oppenheimer and Barbie, on the leading platform IMDB and has climbed to position 1 in the list of IMDB’s global ratings of the films of last year.