New Delhi:
Given the proliferation of social media, it’s not uncommon for big-banner films to create ‘making of’ videos for buzz-generating purposes, but Restart from Zero is not only the first BTS documentary of its kind to do so. multiplexes, but the film in question came to us more than a year after it was released.
Tracking the making of 12th Fail, one of the biggest sleeper hits of recent years, Restart from Zero, directed and narrated by editor Jaskunwar Kohli, brings to life the highs and lows of filmmaking in a highly entertaining and remarkably educational manner. Is. This is a wonderfully candid work of cinema that every film lover must watch.
Like anything else, this documentary presents a vibrant, in-depth portrait of writer-director-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, whose commercially and critically successful production banner has been in existence for 45 years.
Restart from Zero places itself at the center of a film unit repeatedly moving into bad weather, conceptually and logistically, as 12th Fail takes shape and grows, taking on a key position in the team. Forces everyone to think on their feet (yes, on their feet because not a single crew member here is a woman).
12th failed without any star power. When the unit moves to Delhi, VVC thinks that it will be easier to shoot with Vikrant Massey in the crowded Mukherjee Nagar area as no one will recognize the actor. The director is astonished by the fan frenzy that Messi unleashes on the streets. The joy on the actor’s face as he waves to the crowd is clear – and completely understandable.
But before Restart from Zero reaches the Delhi schedule of 12th Fail, it sheds light on the long, frustrating initial period in which the production languished, much of it during the peak of the Covid pandemic, a period in which the script had to be rewritten multiple times. -The bar was changed and cut. On a Zoom call.
The documentary features music director Shantanu Moitra, lyricist Swanand Kirkire, writer Anurag Pathak (whose book was the basis for the script of 12th Fail and on whom the character of Pritam Pandey is based), UPSC coaches Vivek Divyakirti and Manoj Sharma and Shraddha Joshi. the bureaucrat couple on whose lives the film is dramatically based, and of course Massey, Anant Joshi and Anshuman Pushkar.
The 12th Fell team faces all the challenges and complications that typically come up in any film production, but since this is an independent film driven more by passion than any belief in its financial feasibility, The team needs to find ways out of tight spots quickly. None of them, mercifully, prove to be quick solutions.
Delightfully lively and extremely candid – by the end of the film, both VVC and his crew are ready to admit that the man at the top knows nothing and is only learning as he goes along – Restart from Zero Experienced Different lighting captures the filmmaker at work. With his 12th fail he was out of his comfort zone and attempting something he had never done before. The drama of that situation is filmed with all its ups and downs.
The documentary flashes back to points in the planning process when VVC was on the verge of admitting defeat in the 12th Fail. It then takes the audience on a tour of the locations where the project progressed towards completion.
It offers a captivating account of the milestones and journey faced by 12th Fail – with finding a suitable director, with its actors, and with scouting locations. All this went on smoothly for two years, a period that tested the patience and perseverance of every crew member.
As the film takes us through the evolution of the basic idea – whichever young director Vidhu Vinod Chopra had entrusted the task to, rejected the script as inauthentic – the doubts expressed by colleagues, including teacher Vikas Divyakirti, Based on this, numerous improvements were made to the curriculum. Its final execution despite many difficult obstacles.
A significant portion of Restart from Zero is devoted to the obstacles the unit had to overcome while filming real students in real classrooms.
The sequence in which Macy is sitting among the students was the most difficult to accomplish. The boys’ failure to understand and heed VVC’s instruction not to look at the camera resulted in 21 takes.
a section of zero to restart – It’s with good reason that the documentary begins with this – comes up. On the opening day of shooting in Reha village, Chambal prompted VVC to alter his well-laid plans and alter a sequence, hoping to combine all two dozen shots into one single-take scene. Improvisation offers a masterclass in moment-to-moment recalibration.
There’s a lot more to Restart from Zero that celebrates other amazing historical successes, none as exciting as the transformation of the shell of an abandoned train terminal in Agra into a “fully functional” Gwalior Railway Station, from where the 12th FAIL The hero begins his journey. Delhi and the promise of a new life.
Or consider exploring a tightrope walk where the hero works, lives and prepares for his shot at the UPSC exam. It sends VVC assistants to different parts of Delhi to find the right place. He rejects all their suggestions which leaves the team shocked. It is only when he steps into the breach and takes responsibility for locating the true mill that everyone realizes what is going wrong with the search.
Many of the scenes in and around Mukherjee Nagar pose their own set of problems, crowd management being the most important, especially since 12th Fail was a period film, which demanded accuracy of surroundings. Restart from Zero shows the role of rigor and the primacy of the script in filmmaking.
Even if you have a tendency to understand zero to restart As an exercise in self-congratulation, it can’t be denied that it’s a bit of a miracle. It’s a surprisingly fascinating insider’s look at filmmaking with all its ups and downs, pains and joys, false starts and new beginnings. This is a film that deserves a wider audience.
