Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ’12th Fail’ had taken the audience by surprise. The film, starring Vikrant Massey in the lead, has been having a dream run in theatres and is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from today, December 29.
Based on a novel by Anurag Pathak, Vikrant Massey plays Manoj Kumar Sharma, a young boy from Chambal who wants to join the police force. The actor not just had to look young for the character, but also had to darken his skin. Being the perfectionist that Chopra is, he did not opt to put makeup on Vikrant Massey’s skin for him to look like a boy from Chambal. Now, in an exclusive interview, Massey revealed that he had a skin infection while darkening his skin for ’12th Fail’.
VIKRANT MASSEY HAD SUNBURNS, WAS ON MEDICATION WHILE SHOOTING FOR ’12TH FAIL’
with the dream of clearing UPSC. Often, actors face criticism for playing a young character, or someone darker than what they are in reality. When we asked him about the criticism, Massey told IndiaToday.in, “There is a definite reason why my character is dark. There’s a certain geography of the place where he comes from. One needs to watch the film to know if I do justice to playing a 19-year-old. That’s all I can say.”
He also added that he had a major skin infection during the prep. He revealed, “My skin was peeling because I had to darken my skin for the character and sir (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, director) did not want any makeup. So he packed me off before anyone else, and I reached Chambal with one of the assistant directors. All I would do is put mustard oil on me and sit in the sun for 3 hours a day.”
“On the very first day, I realised that I had done something majorly wrong because my skin started peeling from my shoulder. I got a skin infection and massive sunburn. I was also on medication. But it was all worth it, and I am so proud of the film that we have made,” he added.
‘WAS ON SEMI-LIQIUD AND MASHED FOOD FOR 20 DAYS’
Looking like a 19-year-old when you are 36 is no easy feat. When we asked the actor how he managed to achieve it, he said, “A lot of weight loss! I had just semi-liquid and mashed food for almost 20 days before the shoot and also had to regain my weight by the end of the shoot. It’s only Vinod Sir (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, director) who can do this because almost 80 per cent of the film was shot in sequence, so I had to regain the weight. It is a daunting and challenging film.”
