Zero
Se
Restart
is
a
must
watch
for
cinema
students,
and
also,
perhaps
for
the
layperson
who
has
never
been
on
a
film
set,
and
is
curious
about
what
goes
into
the
making
of
a
movie,
recommends
Deepa
Gahlot.
Hollywood
has
seen
quite
a
few
behind-the-scenes
documentaries
about
the
making
of
films,
which
have
mostly
been
included
in
the
DVDs
of
those
films
as
bonus
content,
and
some
made
their
way
to
streaming.
Documentaries
like
Hearts
of
Darkness:
A
Filmmaker’s
Apocalypse,
Final
Cut:
The
Making
And
Unmaking
of
Heaven’s
Gate,
Burden
of
Dreams,
Dangerous
Days:
Making
Blade
Runner
give
fascinating
glimpses
of
the
film-making
process
and
how
a
director’s
vision
shapes
a
movie.
In
India
too,
Chale
Chalo:
The
Lunacy
of
Filmmaking
was
produced,
on
the
making
of
Lagaan.
It
goes
without
saying
that
this
would
work
only
if
the
project
has
originality
plus
intrinsic
value,
and
is
not
a
regular
potboiler.
Though
it
must
be
said
that
hard
work
and
sleepless
nights
also
go
into
the
making
of
bad
films.
Digital
cameras
and
high
end
phones
have
obviously
made
the
process
easier.
A
designated
person
can
follow
the
director
and
crew
around
and
get
the
footage
for
making
a
documentary.
Vidhu
Vinod
Chopra
has
gone
a
step
further
and
made
—
or,
rather,
facilitated
—
Zero
Se
Restart,
the
making
of
his
hit,
12th
Fail
to
be
released
in
cinemas.
Chopra
is
evidently
proud
of
this
film
because
as
he
and
the
crew
members
interviewed
say,
it
was
the
kind
of
film
he
had
never
done
before
(‘No
fights,
no
murders?’).
In
fact,
he
ended
up
directing
it
because
every
director
he
sent
the
script
to
—
even
newbies
—
turned
it
down.
The
fear
was,
who
will
see
a
film
about
a
poor
guy
struggling
to
pass
the
tough
civil
services
exam
and
become
an
IPS
officer.
It
falls
to
Jaskunwar
Kohli
(co-writer
and
co-editor
of
12th
Fail)
to
shoot
the
footage,
and
edit
(with
Chopra)
the
arduous
process
of
the
making
of
the
film,
and
it
would
surprise
audiences
not
familiar
with
the
process
to
discover
that
a
realistic
film
is
even
more
difficult
to
shoot.
Sometimes
it’s
more
time
consuming
and
expensive
than
a
fictional
love
story
or
revenge
saga.
The
journey
of
Zero
Se
Restart
(a
song
in
12th
Fail)
starts
during
COVID,
when
meetings
were
held
on
Zoom.
The
script
underwent
many
changes,
and
every
new
version
would
be
returned
with
Chopra’s
red
ink
scrawls.
12th
Fail
was
based
on
a
novel
by
Anurag
Pathak,
which
was
inspired
by
the
story
of
real
life
IPS
officer
Manoj
Kumar
Sharma
(played
by
Vikrant
Massey).
It
follows
his
back-breaking,
heart-breaking
struggle
from
a
background
of
utter
poverty
and
hopelessness,
to
achieve
his
dream
of
wearing
the
khaki
uniform.
The
crew
found
the
location
for
Manoj’s
house
in
a
Chambal
(Madhya
Pradesh)
village,
and
using
a
mix
of
professional
actors
(Sarita
Joshi,
Geeta
Aggarwal
Sharma,
Priyanshu
Chatterjee)
and
locals,
that
part
of
Manoj’s
life
was
filmed
with
relative
ease,
heat
and
dust
notwithstanding.
The
bigger
challenges
came
while
shooting
crowd
scenes
with
actual
students,
on
crowded
Delhi
streets
with
real
people.
A
major
hassle
was
to
get
them
not
to
look
at
the
camera.
What
is
equally
riveting
to
watch
is
how
much
effort
went
into
hunting
for
the
right
space
and
recreating
a
railway
canteen,
then
timing
shots
to
capture
a
train
passing
in
the
background.
Or
getting
the
flour
mill
(where
Manoj
lives,
works
and
studies)
just
right
so
that
the
reference
to
a
‘hell
hole’
in
the
script,
gets
a
visual
representation.
New
or
lesser
known
actors
like
Anant
Joshi,
Medha
Shankr,
Anshuman
Pushkar
mingled
with
non-professionals
and
gave
the
film
its
gritty
feel.
Chopra’s
assistants
and
unit
go
through
the
grind
in
getting
what
he
wants,
when
a
lot
of
the
time,
he
does
now
know
what
he
wants
till
he
sees
it.
It
is
not
clear
how
much
of
Chopra
on
the
screen
is
candid
and
how
much
is
performance,
but
watching
him
at
work
—
cheerful,
angry,
confused,
affectionate,
harsh,
but
also
uncompromising
—
and
seeing
a
film’s
trajectory
from
page
to
screen,
is
educative
and
enjoyable.
A
must
watch
for
cinema
students,
and
also,
perhaps
for
the
layperson
who
has
never
been
on
a
film
set,
and
is
curious
about
what
goes
into
the
making
of
a
movie.
Zero
Se
Restart
Review
Rediff
Rating:
