12B is a 2001 Tamil romance film directed and co-written by Jeeva. The film featured Shaam in his debut along with Simran and Jyothika in the leading roles. Vivek, Moon Moon Sen and Sunil Shetty play other pivotal role in the film which had music composed by Harris Jayaraj. 12B released in September 2001 to positive reviews and performed well at the box office.
12B begins with a young man named Shakthi (Shaam) leaving his house one morning for a job interview, when he spots a beautiful girl Jothika aka Jo (Jyothika) walking down the street. He’s both attracted to and distracted by her. He begins to follow her and in the process, accidentally misses his bus and is mugged. The film then pauses at this point as a voice over begins to tell the viewer that we are about to examine how Shakthi’s life will be impacted, by missing the bus or by catching the bus.
Shakthi who makes the bus, gets to the job interview on time and gets the job of a bank manager and a beautiful young colleague Priya (Simran) falls in love with him. The catch there is that this Shakthi is still in love with the same woman who his alternate self (who missed the bus) loves, but try as he may, something keeps preventing him from getting to her. That thing turns out to be his alternate self (that is the him who missed the bus). He is well off in life but miserable because he can’t get the girl he loves.
The Shakthi who missed the bus, arrives late at the interview and is thrown out. On his way home, he passes by a junkyard where he spots an old friend Madhan (Vivek) who gives him a job as a mechanic and life goes on. The next day, while crossing the street, he spots the girl from the day before and begins to follow her again until he is able to get her attention and they begin a relationship. One day, Aravind (Sunil Shetty) comes to visit and it is revealed that he too is in love with her and wants to marry her.
Due to some miscommunication, Jo and Shakthi (who missed the bus) separate. On the other end, Priya expresses her love for Shakthi (who made it to the bus). The climax scene is cliched and Shakthi (who makes the bus) while reciprocating his love for Priya meets with an accident. At the same moment Shakthi (who missed the bus) is also grievously hurt in the same freak accident while he tries to patch up with Jo. Shakthi and his alternate self are admitted in the hospital.
12B ends with Priya wailing over the death of Shakthi (who makes to the bus) catching a glimpse of Shakthi (who missed the bus) patching up with Jo at the hospital.
Directed by Jeeva
Produced by Vikram Singh
Written by Jeeva & Sujatha
Starring Shaam, Simran, Jyothika, Vivek, Moon Moon Sen, Sunil Shetty
Music by Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography Jeeva
Edited by B Lenin & V T Vijayan
Production Film Works
Release date 28 September 2001
Running time 130 min
Country India
Language Tamil
