Film Finding Fanny is praiseworthy to watch once for the brilliant performances of Naseeruddin Shah, !!

Homi Adajania's new movie is not a comedy but an absolutely original gem that plays out its wicked, witty, weepy and wild bits with equal delicacy. The Goan character of the narrative lends a carefree undercurrent to the film's overall irreverence, and Adajania does brilliantly to mix that mood with black humor as and when the script demands.

 

Finding Fanny is about as far from conventional Bollywood as Mumbai is from Goa, where, incidentally the movie is set giving out an almost pastoral whiff. After a long time, this is director Homi Adajania’s third movie – the first was the madly dark indie Being Cyrus and then, the Bollywood song-and-dance masala film Cocktail

 

Homi is a crown prince of small movies. Finding Fanny, too, has a smallish quality. It’s a tiny gem. But, what separates the delightful Finding Fanny from the other two? Initially, it shares the same DNA as Being Cyrus. Both are full of Parsi characters and Parsis, as a community seen to be living in a time-warp, are known for their peculiarities.

 

Finding Fanny is about five such dysfunctional oddballs – Angie (Deepika Padukone), her mother-in-law Rosie (Dimple Kapadia), Freddie (Naseeruddin Shah), Savio Da Gama (Arjun Kapoor) and Don Pedro (Pankaj Kapur) staying in a sleepy Goan village. Angie goads her friend, the town’s old postman, Freddie to hunt for her lady love. Fanny’s been in love with a mysterious woman for more than 40 years but could never confess. In this mission – of finding Fanny – Angie enlists Rosie and Savio. There’s another unexpressed love story to be dealt with. Savio loves Angie but, like Fredie, is too tongue-tied. Painter Pedro also agrees to accompany them on the trip because he lusts after Rosie.

 

In their life-changing voyage, they argue and debate but come to understand each other and finally, realize the meaning of life and love.

 

The cast is a big reason why the movie works. Naseer, Dimple and Pankaj Kapur - masters of the game - do not leave one wrong scene between them. For Deepika and Arjun, this would be their most special outing yet. These gifted young actors may have done more attention-grabbing roles but this movie lets them prove they can wow even outside the mainstream comfort zone.

As far acting perspective, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia – the three seniors – are in brilliant form. Naseer as a puzzled and scared lover serves it just right. Pankaj’s clumsiness and alcoholism is a comic relief and he has, trust us, never been more entertaining. Dimple as the loud and showy Rosie leaves quite an impression. Arjun Kapoor puts up a wonderful performance, so does Deepika with her moderate expressions of love. The beauty is that all the characters fit perfectly, an extraordinary phenomenon these days.

 

The film is shot well and the credit must go to cinematographer Anil Mehta.

 

Finding Fanny is faulty at some places. When you handle a movie with a huge cast, often characters appear and vanish arbitrarily. There’s a feeling, here, too that some characters have been given a little chance.

 

Finding Fanny is the sort of film that doesn’t demand much from you. But it’s much more than people are giving it credit for. In the garb of the road trip madness bristling with local eccentrics, it talks about the value of love and most significantly, of the road of life.

 

Adajania is back on the ground he had sketched in his debut ‘Being Cyrus’ (we will forgive him his ‘Cocktail’), and that’s a good thing. But he is still honing his skill. ‘Finding Fanny’ flies true when the director manages to fill the film with the right dream-drowsing quality, but it isn’t anchored enough: the darkness slides by much too quickly. And that makes it a slight watch, occasionally pleasurable, but not completely memorable.

 

In general, it is praiseworthy to watch once for experiencing the brilliant performances of trio Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia.