Finding Fanny Review

Now Finding Fanny which boasts of unusual quirkiness and has been made mostly in English and Konkani, getting a wide release is a step in the right direction for Bollywood films. Because this symbolizes that films made here in Indi don’t always have to be in Hindi. The Finding Fanny trailer has been generally liked by the niche audience who like English films and the presence of a strong cast has also helped increase the buzz. Deepika Padukone returns to the silver screen in a full fledged Hindi film after several months, and it remains to be seen if her glory at the box office continues.

Story: Finding Fanny is basically a road trip film. And as is the case with most road trip films, this also is based on the journey of screw-up oddball characters – 5 screw-ups in this case. It is located in a picturesque laidback Goan town called Pocolim where everything moves at a slow pace. The town’s postman Ferdie (Naseeruddin Shah) used to be in love with a girl called Stephanie Fernandes (lovingly called Fanny, of course). He wrote her a letter almost 40 odd summers ago but that love letter never got delivered. So he is coaxed by his beautiful neighbor Angie (Deepika) to go on a trip to find Fanny. To go on the trip they need a car and the town’s creepy but eccentric and extremely talented Painter Don Pedro (Pankaj Kapur) lends them his vintage car and even accompanies them on learning of the presence of Rosie (Dimple Kapadia) in the trip. Rosie is the chaperon of her daughter-in-law Angie in this trip. Now all they need is a driver and they find one in the recluse mechanic Savio (Arjun Kapoor). Finding Fanny is then all about the road trip and everything that happens during the trip.

Screenplay and Direction: The screenplay is written by the director of the film Homi Adajania and Kersi Khambatta. They manage to get the basic nuances of the Goan folk right in their script because of the perfect dialogues written for the characters. The film flows at a lackadaisical pace and it helps set the tone because with a film like Finding Fanny, this is exactly what you’d expect; not boom-boom action in every second scene. Homi let’s the characters chart their own journeys through this journey film and reveals different layers of the characters in a very natural and nuanced manner. It all comes together without a tinge of trying even though the climax does seem hurried and a bit filmy. Did they find Fanny in the film? We can’t tell you that. But does Homi find his form back again with Finding Fanny? He sure does.

Finding Fanny
Finding Fanny Movie Review

Finding Fanny is made so picturesque and beautiful to look because of the almost paintingesque production design which is further accentuated by the cinematography of Anil Mehta. Finding Fanny is one of the best films to look at with almost every scene being shot at a beautiful location. It feels as if the whole film has been put through a Photoshop filter to make it look so ethereal beautiful. The music doesn’t play much of a part in Finding Fanny except for the semi-groovy Shake Your Bootiyaan song which crops up in the end.

Acting: The film turns out to be such a glorious piece of celluloid because of the nearly perfectly cast actors. Naseeruddin Shah is at his usual best but in a more overplayed role as Ferdie and never gets a beat wrong. Pankaj Kapur is terrific as the slimey artist who is attracted to big buttocks. The way he looks at Dimple in the film will make you cringe and make your heart melt at the same time. He’s that good. Deepika Padukone delivers one of the best performances of her life, if not the absolute best. She gets her diction right and portrays the loneliness of her character and the sexual angst buried in that loneliness in a fantastic manner. You have to see her performance to believe that she is the same girl who appeared in films like Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se and Aarakshan earlier. The two inferior performances come from Dimple Kapadia and Arjun Kapoor. Dimple overacts and hams in her role as the overbearing Rosie but is not a total disappointment. And Arjun Kapoor acts his heart out as Savio in Finding Fanny but is somehow unable to match steps with the other brilliant performances around him.

Conclusion: Finding Fanny, then is a moody comedy which can be best enjoyed by people who are used to the films of Wes Anderson. It takes its time to set up its story and doesn’t hurry up the proceedings like other films. If you get easily bored, then Finding Fanny may not be the film for you. However, it deserves to be seen because of the unusual quirky comic timing of all the characters. And if you do decide to see it, please manage to find an English screening of the film. It should be seen in English as the director meant it to be.

Box Office: Finding Fanny won’t set the box office on fire like the last films of Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor. But, it will find its own audience in the high end and premium multiplexes.

Positives:

  • The crackling cast
  • The details put into the dialect and characterization by the writers
  • The muted direction of Homi Adajania
  • The filtered cinematography
  • Scenic Goan locations

Negatives:

  • Arjun Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia are unable to match steps with the other actors
  • Climax seems a bit hurried although harmless

Rating: ★★★★☆

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33 Comments

  • Well the movie belongs to Pankaj Kapoor. He is such a class act.
    These movies must be made more and should be seen by all…..very refreshing and Enjoyable.

    Next Movie 5,4,3,2,1……….BANG BANG!

  • Poor arjun kapoor,again overshadowed!!!

    Waiting for an honest review from @sir ranbir…
    Will watch this film for a change..

  • Will watch finding fanny in dis week!

    I finally finished watching Mary Kom!

    Well, very honestly, Mary kom is not upto my expectation.but still it’s watchable.

    The screenplay looks odd some times. Some scenes look unnatural. Problem arises in the dilogue writing also. Direction was above average to good. The editing was good. Backgroud score and music work well. Cinematography is nice. Yet, they could have worked more on those beautiful Manipuri locations.
    In some moments i felt like it was just an unnecessary or created event. The last fighting could have been better.

    As for performances, Priyanka Chopra has delivered a stronge performance. Her dedication and hard work definitely reflect from the movie. The guy who was playing husband role was decent to good. The man playing coach character was strictly average. All other supporting actors were above average to good.

    So, It was flawed,but it offers many good things too. I was just satisfied! I am going with 2.5 and an extra half for the extremely dedicated and hard working Priyanka Chopra who was the soul in the film.

    RATING: 3/5

  • Finding fanny short review
    Thumbs up
    1 stellar performances by entire star cast
    2 nice philosophies of life told in a subtle way
    3 some rofl secenes
    4 smart writing and novel direction by homi
    5 solid bgm and beautiful cinematography

    Thumbs down
    1 prolonged and slightly confusing climax
    2 uneven pacing

    Rating-8.5

    Final word-if u hv apetite for all kinds of cinema then its a must watch otherwise skip it

  • My prediction of indicine’s review of

    1 tevar
    Thumbs up
    Excellent action,solid dialogues,sonakshi-manoj’s performance,music

    Thumbs down
    Arjun kapoor’s acting
    Arjun’s dancing
    Arjun’s dressing sense

    Rating-4 out of 5

  • My prediction of indicine’s review of ram lakhan
    Thumbs up
    Rohit’s direction
    Performance of ranveer as ram
    Music

    Thumbs down
    Arjun’s overacting
    Arjun’s dance
    Arjun’s poor action

    Rating-4 out of 5

  • @indicine don’t u think arjun has a special talent of poorly acting in lead roles in 4 star rated films regularly?I mean he simply cant act despite all his efforts and look at his simply!but I don’t know y he has so much fan following and wat made the a-centre single screen audiences to whistle when he appeared for the first time in this film!

  • Since Deepika is bigger star than aamir Khan i am expecting ff to collect more than DG’s lifetime collections of 4 crore.i think dp will do it on its opening day as she is bigger star than aamir.fingers are crossed!

  • @sir ranbir
    U were commenting on indicine since morning when did u watched fanny??
    Also ur review is looking biased…
    U did’nt liked movies like lootera coz they were slow and boring for u but u liked this and rated it 8.5!!!

  • @nipun
    U will like this film,coz u have good patience while watching such sort of films while i lose my patience quickly if the film is slow..
    Anyway i will watch it just for a change coz i am seriously bored of watching films like singham returns,boss etc..

  • I always feel happy when I see superstars like akki,ajay,aamir,hrithik,srk and ranbir doing gd offbeat films that literally challenges norms of commercial cinema in literally every scene but yet entertains the audience

  • Finding fanny should collect 33cr on first day And 227 cr lifetime coz CE worked Due to Deepika Padukone
    -Salman fans
    Now let’s see :)

  • wer d guy “ARJUN KAPOOR 4” who barking since 3 months abt Kaddu kapoor .. lookkkk he doin Ovract in fanny .. In whole mve he waz acoided n overshadow.. Finding fanny waz gud mve bt nt all oll best .. Pankaj kapoor juz mindblowin

  • wow superb review, I am in awe of Indicine review skills. they are too good.
    I haven’t seen the film but it garners very good reviews from most of the critics. and most of them found Arjun performance good/very good. but Indicine will keep giving 4 review to his film while the lead actor is disappointing to them, I agree here Nasser,pankaj sir also playing major character but still Arjun is the lead actor.

    @arjub kapoor/sir rabbit for future movies of him, I am assuming Indicine rated them good, negative is common and that is.
    Nagatives- Arjun Kapoor , everything is perfect except the lead actor.
    Rating-3/3.5/4/4.5 doesn’t matter but the lead actor is disappointing wish we had other actor as lead guy.

    I think admin are going through the same problem we fan have, as when we don’t like certain actor we are finding flaw in his/her performance whether he does good or not. what I can say grow up guys.

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