12th Fail director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s last-minute decision of shooting lead actors Vikrant Massey and Medha Shankr’s meeting in an empty classroom resulted in a scene that moved the entire crew to tears, the film’s associate director Jaskunwar Kohli has revealed in a social media post.

“The emptiness of the classroom, the slight echo in their voices, the characters not having to talk too loud due to street noise, all of it lent to making a scene that would have otherwise been very brash… very gentle instead,” wrote Kohli on Instagram on Friday.

Sharing a picture of Vikrant and Medha embracing Chopra, Kohli shed light on the development of the scene. Initially, the scene, showcasing Shraddha catching up with Manoj as the latter scurried out of his class, was supposed to take place in the openness of Mukherjee Nagar.

“The AD team had readied the public location, hundreds of extras were set up and ready to roll,” revealed Kohli.

Elaborating on Chopra’s impulsive thought at the last minute, the associate director added, “But at the very last minute, VVC had an impulsive thought — the very thought that is the foundation of every frame of this film — a thought that turned everything on its head. VVC decided that he would rather do the scene in an empty classroom instead of the open public.”

Despite the crew’s initial confusion concerning Chopra’s preference for a “boring, visually flat classroom over the possibility of the bustling chaos of Mukherjee”, the decision proved to be a vital one and lent itself to the making of a profoundly moving scene.

“So vital was this decision, in fact, that both actors, @vikrantmassey and @medhashankr, produced a performance that moved the crew to tears,” Kohli wrote.

Reflecting on the impact of the scene, he added, “After the shoot, not a word was spoken, silence was abound — and in the midst of that silence, while everyone waited, VVC held both Vikrant and Medha in a gentle embrace to celebrate the beautiful job that they both had done.”

12th Fail, which released theatrically on October 27 last year, is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.