A funny thing happened with us. We went for a 12:30 show only to realize it’s a Hindi version. Google search revealed it should be better watched in English. So selling those tickets, we finally managed to catch the English version in another show.
Finding Fanny stares at you from a sleepy hard-to-find-it-on-a-Google-map village of Pocolim, Goa. Nothing seems to move here, not even the time. In such a lost-to-time place, you would imagine that people would be happy. But that’s not the case. Small or big, every person has their own problems.
Ferdinand aka Ferdie (Naseeruddin Shah) a postman, one evening out of the blue receives an unopened love letter that he had posted forty-six years ago to a girl called Stephanie Fernandes (Fanny). Suddenly his deep buried emotions resurface. His friend, a young barely-there-bride-turned-widow Angie (Deepika Padukone) gets him to agree to visit Fanny and propose to her, in person this time. She manipulates her mother-in-law, Rosie (Dimple Kapadia), who is a huge lady with her authoritative ways; Don Pedro, a world-renowned artist who tries to find her muse in Rosie and Savio, Angie’s bitter ex-lover. These five dysfunctional characters embark on a weird road trip in a restored vintage car to find Fanny and along the way they get more than they had bargained for; they lose bitterness, bury old hatchets, and manage to find hope and love.
Finding Fanny is about finding love in the strangest of places and in the strangest of circumstances. Just go with the flow and let life happen, let love happen. That’s the message this drama cum comedy movie gives you.
Veteran actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur have given brilliant performances as the sad and shy postman still living in the memories of his unrequited love and a master painter with shades of brilliance and eccentricity to match. Dimple Kapadia is another actor who has stolen the limelight with her portrayal of a widow, a self-proclaimed First Lady of the Pocolim village, who is authoritative but at the same time hiding a dark shameful truth. Deepika Padukone is the surprise of the film. She proves to the world that she is capable of matured acting if provided the correct platform. Arjun Kapoor is no less brilliant as the foul-mouthed Savio who is still in love with Angie. You feel as if each of these actors was born to do his/her role in the film.
The film is short and devoid of unnecessary clutter. There are no songs and dance either to take you away from the real film. But there are enough funny moments to bring a smile or make you split with laughter. After Cocktail, I was a little skeptical of a Homi Adajania film, but this movie has restored my faith in him.
Verdict: Take the journey, you will find it pleasing, fulfilling, unpredictable and exhilarating.
