Movie Review: Finding Fanny

Director: Homi Adajania

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor



Your heart aches to watch a Hindi film where the location matters, where the stars stay within the parameters of their characters, where the humour comes through everyday situations, where the dialogue feels real and so do the emotions. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s a cause for celebration. Finding Fanny is one such film. It’s a simple film with a threadbare plot line – a group of misfits travel together in search of lost love. But thanks to some superlative acting, you forget how thin the plot is and immerse yourself in the lives of the characters.



Naseeruddin Shah plays Ferdie, a child-like postmaster of a quaint sleepy backwater of Goa called Pocolim. He receives back a letter he had posted 46 years to the love of his life Stefanie ‘Fanny’ Fernandes (Anjali Patil). His best friend Angie (Deepika Padukone), a 26 year old widow, who lives with her widowed mother-in-law Rosalina ‘Rosie’ Eucharistica (Dimple Kapadia), advises him to seek out his long-lost love. A painter in search of a muse, Don Pedro Cleto Colaco (Pankaj Kapur) and Angie’s childhood love Savio Da Gama (Arjun Kapur) join this motley bandwagon. What follows is a road trip that makes the characters relearn some harsh truths and also acquaints them with changing dynamics of their relationships with each other at the same time.



Naseer and Pankaj are seasoned veterans and expectedly feed off each other. One of best lines in the films is when Don Pedro flourishingly describes Freddie as the Casanova Of Konkan. While Naseer brings out all the quirks of a shy, introvert lover, Pankaj is a hoot as the over-the-top painter. His dismissal of his ‘muse’ Dimple after he finishes her painting is poignant and cunningly illustrates the heart of a painter at the same time. Dimple shows what a fine actor she is – her blustering Goan aunty act, where her tough exterior hides an insecure persona is one of her best screen renditions so far. The youngsters, Arjun and Deepika are the real surprise.  Arjun plays Savio, the driver, mechanic and ardent love with the bluster his character deserves and is seldom out of pace with the veterans. Deepika oozes confidence in every frame. She holds her own against everyone and shows how good an actor she can be in the hands of a capable director. It’s her film more than anyone else’s.



After Being Cyrus and Cocktail, director Homi Adajania has seemingly hit his stride. The cinematography by Anil Mehta is world-class and so is the music by Mathias Duplessy and Sachin-Jigar. Go watch the film for its wealth of quirky characters dealing with everyday crisis and emerging richer in the process. It will surely put a smile to your face, if nothing else…