The movie is based on the real-life story of Manoj Kumar Sharma, who overcame failure in his class 12 exams as well as extreme poverty to become an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. Khandbahale, originally from a village in Maharashtra and now an IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre, has had a similar journey.
The West Bengal Police also noticed the connection. “12th Fail. Most of you have by now seen the film, on OTT or the big screen… Today, we would like to tell you another story. Of an IPS officer in West Bengal this time. Another 12th fail, whose unbending determination, dedication, and devotion to his goal helped him climb steadily upward, right up to the chair of the Superintendent of Police, Jalpaiguri…,” read a post by the West Bengal Police on its X handle. It also posted a short video introducing Khandbahale.
A 2015-batch IPS officer, Umesh Khandbahale got an MA in English before clearing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams to get into the service. However, it wasn’t a straightforward journey. He had failed in English in his class 12 exam, and had started working in the fields with his father before he turned his life around.
From Nashik district’s Mahiravani village, near Trimbakeshwar at the foothills of Western Ghats, Khandbahale belongs to a family of farmers. His father, Ganpat Khandbahale, also sold milk.
Khandbahale cleared his class 10 in 2001, but in class 12, he failed his English exam, scoring just 21 per cent.
Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “I was definitely sad at the time, and I joined my father in the field. We also had a family dairy business, so I used to collect milk from the village and supply it to Nashik bazar. I also did some diploma courses in agriculture, thinking I could learn to use technology to improve our farming business.”
In 2005, he finally cleared his class 12, and followed it up with a BA, B.Ed, and MA from KTHM College, Nashik, under Pune University. He also did diploma courses in Horticulture from Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University.
From 2012 to 2014 he lived in New Delhi, and attempted the UPSC exams in all three years.
“It was after my MA that I got to know about UPSC from someone. Initially, for three to four months, I took basic UPSC tuitions and then attempted thrice – 2012, 2013 and 2014 in Delhi. In 2013, I got through to the interview stage, but it was in 2015 that I finally cracked UPSC and joined the service,” he said.
“The ‘failure’ tag (after failing in class 12) upset me, and I put in years of hard work to mould myself before cracking UPSC… I can’t tell you how I felt seeing the UPSC result. In fact, it was the best moment for my family, too,” Khandbahale said.
On the movie 12th Fail, he said, “I saw that movie and it was like I was visualising myself, and reliving those days.”
Khandbahale is critical of the obsession with marks, and the pressure this puts students under. “Marks are just numbers. There can be many reasons for someone not scoring good marks… They could be sick or facing some other problem. All of those not scoring high marks aren’t failures… Parents must have faith,” he said.
Advising students not to take failure seriously, and instead to learn from it, the SP said, “We need to work hard and set clear goals. If we constantly want to achieve something, we will get it.”