An Indian sleeper hit has been rated by IMDb as the best film of 2023 with a rating of 9.2 ahead of big films like Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Barbie.
The previous year saw the release of a number of critically acclaimed films across the world. In India, films like Virupaksha Part 1 and Kaathal The Core impressed fans and critics alike while overseas, master filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan came out with their latest offerings. And yet, in a list of the highest-rated films in the world, all these gems lost out to a little-heralded Bollywood film.
The Bollywood sleeper hit rated the best film of 2023
Internet Movie Database (commonly known as IMDb) is a good reference point for judging the quality of any film. The website uses an algorithm to document user ratings (from 1-10) and arrives at a final rating for every film. The website has been used by film fans and industry experts to look at the year’s best (and often worst) films. This year, among all films from around the world that have received at least 20,000 user votes, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail is rated the highest, with a rating of 9.2 out of 10. The film, starring Vikrant Massey, is the success story of a UPSC aspirant, and has topped several lists of best films of the year back home.
How 12th Fail beat giants like Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Killers of the Flower Moon
The list of highest rated films of 2023 has 12th Fail at the top, followed by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with a rating of 8.6. Other big films of the year follow suit with Oppenheimer (8.4), Godzilla Minus One (8.4), and Kannada film Kaiva (8.2) rounding off the top 5. Among other big names in the top 10 are Christmas comedy The Holdovers, Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3, Korean film Past Lives, Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai.
12th Fail has seen a resurgence in interest following its release on Netflix late last week. The film has been running in theatres, grossing over Rs 70 crore worldwide, a commendable achievement for a film of its scale. But it is OTT release and subsequent love from fans that has catapulted it to the top of the IMDb ratings for 2023. Other major Indian films are rated as follows - Dunki (7.7), OMG 2 (7.6), Jawan (7.0), Animal (6.8), and Salaar (6.7). Greta erwig's Barbie is rated 6.9 on the site.
All about Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail
The film is a success story, a biographical drama based on the life of Manoj Kumar Sharma, who overcame extreme poverty to become an Indian Police Service officer. The film, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, stars Vikrant Massey and Medha Shankar, along with an ensemble cast. The film was released in theatres on October 27 to universal acclaim. Made on a budget of just Rs 20 crore, the film was a sleeper hit, growing on word of mouth to cross Rs 50 crore. It is still going strong in theatres in its tenth week despite having released on OTT already.
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 "A still from 12th Fail (Image: screengrab)")
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