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Vidhu Vinod Chopra was once known for films like Parinda and 1942 A Love Story but to the current generation, he became known as the man who brought the story of 12th Fail to the screen. Starring Vikrant Massey in the lead role, the film won two National Film Awards recently. At the recently held masterclass at at the 56th International Film Festival of India, Goa, Chopra shared that an OTT platform actually backed out from their deal with him after they watched the film, and made an excuse saying they did not have the funds.
During his session with writer Abhijat Joshi, titled ‘Unscripted – The Art And Emotion of Filmmaking’, Vidhu opened up about his film 12th Fail. He revealed that the Vikrant Massey starrer didn’t get an OTT deal because of the platform’s ‘low funds’. He also shared that many people, including his wife Anupama Chopra, asked him not to release the movie in theatres. During the conversation, Vidhu said, “When I made 12th Fail, everyone said that it won’t even work for a day. Even my wife, who knows a lot about cinema, told me not to release it at the theatres, no one will go to watch your and Vikrant’s film there. I told her that we made it with love, people will definitely go. The movie was at the big screen for 7 months, despite being on TV and digital.”
Without revealing the platform’s name, the filmmaker shared that an OTT platform actually came up with an excuse saying they don’t have the funds to take the film. “I had a deal with an OTT company, I won’t name them, they saw the film and said that they don’t have funds. Can you imagine? They actually said that to me. I told them that maybe they didn’t understand the film. One person even said, ‘Aise log toh hain hi nahi sir ab (Such people don’t exist now)’, subtly meaning how such honesty has vanished. I said, ‘I don’t know if there are more such people or not, but you can see atleast one sitting right here!”
Vidhu also shared that during the shoot of the film, in the scene where Vikrant’s character goes back to his village and finds out that his grandmother has passed away, there was a lot of emotional tension. “Nothing was planned, everything was impromptu. We held the longest shot for four minutes and then seconds. If we had said cut, the emotion of that scene would have diminished. Everyone asked how we didn’t cut for that long,” he concluded.
Besides Vikrant Massey, 12th Fail also starred Medha Shankr in a pivotal role.
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