Finding Fanny Review

One-line Review: Five odd characters set out to find a postman's lost love and in turn they find the sole purpose of their very own lives

Positive Points: Top-notch star-cast, Amazing direction, Goan flavor

Negative Points: 'Finding Fanny' is confined to its niche audience

Plot: In the lazy village Pokolim in Goa, time passes off quietly. Until an old postman Ferdinand aka Ferdi (Naseeruddin Shah) finds the undelivered letter which he wrote 46 years ago to propose his lady-love Stefanie Fernandes aka Fanny (Anjali Patil). He has spent his entire life alone thinking she has rejected him, but in real his love never went through that test. Seeing her best friend Ferdi depressed, Angie (Deepika Padukone) inserts him to find his love for which he was waiting his entire life.

Angie plans a road trip to find the love of Ferdi's life. For which she gets her ex-lover Savio (Arjun Kapoor) to drive the rusting car belonging to artiste Don Pedro (Pankaj Kapur), who is obsessed with heavy figured women Rosalyn (Dimple Kapadia) who in turn happens to be the mother-in-law of Angie. Connected to each other's life, together they move out of their village Pokolim to find "Fanny". Whether they'll find Fanny or not remains a mystery, but in that process each character discovers something niche for themselves which was earlier missing in their dull lives.

Direction and Other Technical aspects: Director Homi Adajania deserves hats off's for experimenting with an off-beat film 'Finding Fanny'. When Bollywood holds the belief of equating comedy with high-dose masala entertainer, here he comes with something unusual. His direction and script will make you believe that in some corner of Goa there actually lies a village called Pokolim with such crazy characters.

Cinematographer Anil Mehta has beautifully captured the chirpy moments along with the scenic beauty of Goa. Sreekar Prasad and Nick Moore have crafted well the Hindi and English versions respectively, of 'Finding Fanny' into 93 minutes.

Performances: To start with Deepika Padukone as Angie is simply beautiful in her floral Goan dresses. She plays a "virgin" widow, who is quite polite when it comes to dealing with a bunch of crazy old people including her loud mother-in-law, depressed best-friend and an obsessed painter. Still she fondles the desire to fall in love.

Stubbly Arjun Kapoor as Savio Da Gama is at his best in his rugged avatar with those cool shades of glasses. He plays a Bombay return jerk, who left the village after getting dump by Angie. Besides starring at his ex, he is found quarreling with old people in the car. Throughout the film he holds a pride in confessing his love for Angie, until the night when she herself climbs up on him.

Dimple Kapadia has delivered fantastic performance being Rosalyn, the self-proclaimed first lady of Pokolim. You will see her laughing, howling, battling and passing off sarcastic comments through out the film.

Eminent actors Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur have played their characters Ferdi and Don Pedro respectively, with utter-most perfection. While Naseeruddin has brought the blush of a teenager on-screen, Pankaj delivers the performance of an obsessed painter.

Music: Mathias Duplessy and Sachin-Jigar have together composed the music of film 'Finding Fanny'. Songs "Fanny Re", "Mahi Ve" and "Ding Dong" goes in sync with the Goan flavor of the film. While, track "Shake Your Bootiya" stands out for its exceptional Bollywood-style composition.

Final Verdict: 'Finding Fanny' is meant for the niche audience who are ready to accept dark comedy in the films. The regular audiences which crave for masala-entertainer might get disappointed. Homi Adajania has done a perfect job by first of all bringing the top-notch actors on board, then beautifully sculpting the film. There is no such highlight scene, but you will find the humor scattered all over the film.