रीस्टार्ट

Restart (रीस्टार्ट) is the motivational anthem at the heart of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 12th Fail (2023), composed by Shantanu Moitra with lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. Released on 17 October 2023 as the second single from the soundtrack, this original version is sung by Shaan and Swanand Kirkire, with chorus vocals from director Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Shantanu Moitra himself — an unusual credit that underlines how personally invested the filmmaker was in the song's message. Built around the folk-inflected refrain 'zero se kar restart' (restart from zero), the track became inseparable from the film's real-life story of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, who failed the UPSC examination multiple times before succeeding, and it quickly spread beyond the film as a standalone motivational anthem played at graduations, coaching centres and exam-prep gatherings across India.

Shantanu Moitra roots Restart in a folk-percussion-driven, group-chant arrangement rather than a conventional solo ballad structure, with dhol-led rhythm and layered voices designed for collective, sing-along energy. Shaan's lead vocal carries the melody while Swanand Kirkire's rougher, more grounded voice — along with chorus contributions credited to director Vidhu Vinod Chopra himself — gives the track a communal, almost rally-like texture that suits its function as a motivational anthem rather than a conventional film song.

Swanand Kirkire's lyric strips motivation down to its barest arithmetic — 'zero se das ko lakh banaye, zero se kya darna' (from zero to lakhs, why fear zero) — using the Hinglish loanword 'restart' as an unapologetic, direct hook rather than a more ornate Hindi equivalent, which gives the song an urgent, contemporary, almost slogan-like directness suited to a generation of exam aspirants who speak in exactly this Hindi-English mix.

12th Fail, written, produced and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, chronicles IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma's real journey through repeated academic and exam failures before he finally cleared the UPSC civil services examination, starring Vikrant Massey as Sharma and Medha Shankr as his partner Shraddha Joshi. Restart was released on 17 October 2023, ten days before the film's 27 October theatrical release, and functions within the film as the emotional turning point where Manoj resolves to try again despite repeated setbacks — a moment the song's lyrics and folk-anthem arrangement were built to amplify.

Restart became the signature anthem of 12th Fail's cultural moment in late 2023, widely adopted by students, coaching institutes and motivational speakers as a standalone rallying song independent of the film, and it contributed to the soundtrack's nominations for Best Music Direction and Best Lyrics at Filmfare and other Hindi film award ceremonies. Its popularity spawned a rap rendition by Raftaar and a combined 'Rap 'N' Folk' version, and the song was further localised into Kannada, Tamil and Telugu for the film's regional releases — an unusually wide rollout for a single motivational track.