Movie Review: Finding Fanny (Hinglish)

Finding Fanny is charming and beautifully captured. The lush green locales of the picturesque Goan village of Pocolim are a treat to the eyes. And there is something strangely inviting about it; bereft of the modern day hustle and bustle, it seems as if the whole place is frozen in time. Added to that the characters are quirky, droll and engaging to watch. But where Homi Adajania's third directorial venture after Being Cyrus and Cocktail falters is in its inability to fully flesh out their character arcs - they are a bunch of screwballs for no reason - and in its predictable wafer-thin premise about finding yourself and about finding love in the course of that metaphorical journey called "life".

So when Ferdie (Naseeruddin Shah) the postman discovers that the love-letter he posted to Stephanie "Fanny" Fernandes 46 years ago never reached its destination, he is inconsolable and beyond grief. And his best friend Angie (Deepika Padukone), the young widow living with her crabby mom-in-law Rosie (Dimple Kapadia), decides to find her for him because "no one deserves an incomplete love story". She turns to Savio (Arjun Kapoor) for help, an old friend of hers who left the village after she married his best friend Gabo (Ranveer Singh in a brief cameo) and is back working as a car mechanic. Also joining them on this adventure road-trip is Rosie and the car's owner Don Pedro (Pankaj Kapur).

Like I said before, the setting is refreshing, thanks to Mathias Duplessy's pitch-perfect background score and Anil Mehta's top-rate lenswork, and the characters' eccentricities keep you glued to the screen. But they can only do so much when the script doesn't give them enough meat to chew on. Naseeruddin Shah especially is endearing as the hopeless romantic in search of his love, while Pankaj Kapur, although irrelevant in the scheme of things, and Dimple Kapadia play their parts with relish. Deepika Padukone as the seductive manipulator does well but her dialogue delivery is disappointingly flat, and Arjun Kapoor, comparatively more at ease with the English dialogues, fits the bill to some extent as the youngster finding purpose in life. However, their romance is contrived and fails to excite. Clocking a crisp 93 minutes, Finding Fanny begins well, but leaves you wanting for more.