The Master Storyteller

Vidhu Vinod Chopra does not know how to mince words, and that is true of his filmmaking too

- SUHANI SINGH

“I am such an arrogant a**hole,” says filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra after an exercise in self-admiration. It’s an honest declaration that many in the audience—Naseeruddin Shah, Kamal Haasan, Shabana Azmi among them—would agree with. They have all gathered at a PVR multiplex in Mumbai to celebrate 45 years of Chopra’s films. It has been a week-long run of films he has produced over the course of his fascinating career. They are seminal films of Hindi cinema— Parinda (1989), 1942 A Love Story (1994), Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014). But Chopra isn’t content walking down memory lane. At 71, he is still doing what he knows best—telling stories, his way.

The latest one is 12th Fail, a true story about IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, who battled innumerable odds in his quest to crack the UPSC examinations, including faring poorly in his school-leaving exam because he chose not to cheat. Adapted from Anurag Pathak’s book of the same name, it’s a drama that hits all the emotional buttons and features a poignant performance by Vikrant Massey. The film also shines a light on India’s multi-crore coaching industry, where institutes are known to issue deceptive advertisements and alumni testimonials to lure aspirants. It moved the Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who saw the film at a special screening in Delhi on October 22, enough for him to take action against such institutes. The very next day, the government sent notices to 20 coaching firms for issuing misleading advertisements, and slapped fines on four others.