Movie Review: Restart from Zero

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s previous film ’12th Fail’, who gave the industry memorable films like ‘Parinda’ and ‘1947 A Love Story’, proved all the calculations of film pundits wrong and created a huge stir both in people’s hearts and at the box office. Had created a stir. Whereas, no one expected this film starring Vikrant Massey in the lead role to be successful. Therefore, now Vidhu Vinod Chopra has come up with the film ‘Zero Se Restart’ on the story behind the making of ’12th Fail’ and the challenges faced in it, which is actually a documentary on its making.

While ’12th Fail’ is the inspiring story of Manoj Kumar from a very lower class family of Chambal pursuing his/her dream of becoming an IPS despite all the difficulties and challenges and making it come true, ‘Restart from Zero’ is about his/her life at the age of 70. This is the story of this never-say-die spirit of filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who gave a new beginning to the director within.

Watch here: Trailer of ‘Zero Se Restart’

Reason for creating ‘Restart from Zero’

The film shows how when the story of ’12th Fail’ was written, even Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s assistants and his/her team members did not expect it to be made. Not one or two, but four directors refused it. No one was finding anything special in this story of poverty of a common man, because this happens with many people, but this thing stuck in the mind of Vidhu Vinod Chopra that this is the story of almost every human being. Everyone will feel connected to it. Then he/she decided to restart as a director himself. he/she polished the script so much that he/she wrote 179 drafts.

Story of ‘Restart from Zero’

People associated with the film did not agree with Vidhu even on its casting. his/her suggestion was that Varun Dhawan should be cast in the role of Manoj, so that the public would come to watch the film, but Vidhu believed that despite being a good actor, Varun would not fit in the role of a poor village student and he/she bet on Vikrant Massey. Everyone saw how well he/she played. Similarly, during the shooting, how much effort was put into the locations ranging from the restaurant to Manoj’s flour mill house for the railway station scene? What were the challenges of shooting in real locations? Many such interesting stories can be found in the film.

Aamir Khan has also tried his/her hand before ‘Restart from Zero’

However, experiments like making films regarding ‘behind the scenes’ of film making have reduced in Indian cinema. Aamir Khan had made ‘Chale Chalo’ based on the making of his/her film ‘Lagaan’, but that film remained limited to festivals and TV. In this sense, this is a new experiment. In such a situation, the general audience may find it lacking in entertainment or those who have not seen ’12th Fail’ may not be able to understand its essence, but for those interested in the filmmaking genre, this is a master class.

Why watch: Fans of ’12th Fail’ will also like these unheard stories related to its making.