Indian IPS officer Manoj Sharma who inspired the film ‘12th Fail’ has revealed that he did not take any money for the movie and people learning from his story was his “reward”.

“If you ask me what I got personally, then I didn’t get anything, because I don’t take money from anyone or go in expecting any monetary benefits from the people,” he said at the ABP’s Ideas of India Summit. “I am a visapt imaandar [totally honest] person, I am as I was at the time of selection.”

Vikrant Massey’s starrer movie was commercially successful and appreciated by critics. People’s response 146-minute movie prompted the theatre owners to increase its shows.

Massey won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance in the movie. The 2023 film earned much more than its budget.

The audience praised both Massey’s performance and the story of Sharma. They appreciated his persistence to become a government servant despite failures.

According to Sharma, he and his wife have no gift system at the house and on each other’s birthdays and anniversaries, they write love letters to each other instead of exchanging gifts.

He went on to add that the only benefit he got was that his story reached millions of people through the movie and the book.

“What makes me happy is that school students are sending me letters and saying that they want to be like me, and to be honest, that is my reward.”

In the interview, he said: “There was a guy who said that his father used to tell him about his struggles, but he never understood what his father meant. But after watching the movie, he went and hugged his father. That is what I have gained.”