'12th Fail' actress Medha Shankar talks about increase in her social media followers post film's success

Medha, who plays Shraddha Joshi, the girlfriend of Vikrant's character Manoj Sharma in 12th Fail, has witnessed a massive growth in the number of her followers on social media.

The actress, who got her Instagram followers shot up from 16K to 1.4M in recent times, told Hindustan Times, "It’s overwhelming and I feel grateful. When we were making the film, we were proud of what we had made.

"We knew that the honesty we put into the film would resonate with people, but the kind of response it got was unprecedented."

The debutant, who claims to have never focussed on her social media, says she now realises its "power".

She says, "Before I was locked in for the film, I had 16K followers because I never cared about Instagram and didn’t put content regularly. After the OTT release, it grew massively and it’s more than a million now, I am slowly realising the power of social media."

"Now I am understanding that you are considered a star not only because you are a great actor but also because your social media blew up. As an actor, this has become important now.

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"Most importantly, great opportunities will come my way because the film did well and my performance is being appreciated as well.

"But, considering social media, we have to agree that it pays a lot, it is a great way to make money on the side. It will open up a lot of brand collaboration for me," the actress added.

12th Fail, which stars Vikrant Massey in the lead, is centred on a real life story of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, who battled poverty to assume the post.

Vikrant, who has received critical acclaim for his acting, essayed IPS officer Sharma's role.

The film, which was released to theatres on October 27, 2023, was premiered on Disney Plus Hotstar on December 29, 2023.