Finding Fanny, directed by Homi Adajania, isn’t for ordinary film goers. It’s for cinema lovers. If you are a fan of Kick, Singham, Chennai Express, 2 States and their ilk, you may not much like Fanny which is of a different genre altogether. At best it can be clubbed with movies like Lunch Box, Bombay Talkies, Hawa Hawai etc.

The film is very subtle when it comes to its acting, attire, drama, locations and of course, story. It’s a slice of life on the screen with stellar performances one has come to associate with stalwarts like Naseeruddin Shah (Ferdie), Pankaj Kapoor (Don Pedro) and, to some extent, Dimple Kapadia (Rosie). But to see unadulterated powerhouse performances from relatively new entrants like Deepika Padukone (Angie) and Arjun Kapoor (Savio) is a revelation.

Adding to these is the length of the film — a mere 93 minutes — and that it’s bilingual with both English and Hindi spoken. And for once it’s nice to hear good English spoken with an Indian accent which is easier on the ears.

The characters could be from a short story you had read a while back, spiced with dialogues you may be familiar with. The incidents bring out a chuckle and a smile. All of the five characters in the movie appear real but delightfully dysfunctional. They’re residents of a picturesque village called Pocolim and according to Deepika, the film’s narrator, “Our village is like a puppet show.”

The tranquil and slow pace of life in Goa provides the ideal setting for this film

Director Homi, while staying at Salvador do Mundo or Saloi, a small village in north Goa, got inspired to write the story. He seems to have absorbed the feel of the place and picked up nuances (including the lingo) so well that it shows in Fanny. Goa during the monsoon has always looked great but he is bang on target when capturing the susegad (derived from the Portuguese word sossegado meaning ‘contented form of life’) characteristic of the State.

The relaxed and laid back attitude towards life is symptomatic of Goa and best captured in scenes like when Angie and her mother-in-law Rosie, following their breakfast, are found just dozing off on the dining table in between their chat; the way Ferdie and Savio while away their time doing nothing but just pottering away in their respective homes; or how artist Pedro is on an inspiration-hunting spree. His inspiration: well-endowed women and hence his lecherous pursuit of Rosie who has a posterior ample enough to inspire him to paint his masterpiece.

The story begins on a night when the old postman Ferdie gets an undelivered letter which he had written proposing marriage to his lady love Fanny (Stefanie Fernandes) some four decades ago. He leads a life of melancholy and regret of not getting a reply. On the behest of Angie, who was widowed on her wedding day as her husband Gabo (Ranveer Singh in the briefest of cameo) dies after choking on his wedding cake, Ferdie agrees to find out Fanny. They need a car and so in steps Pedro who owns one. Rosie comes along as she says she is needed to protect her young beautiful daughter-in-law and Savio is required to drive the ‘foreign’ car (an old Chevrolet Impala model).

The story revolves around this journey. Credit must be given to Homi for getting his cast correct. Also the brief to each of his characters seems to be on the spot. You should watch for the slight stoop that Naseer has got in the film for the portrayal of old age and also for his voice modulation. And no other old man might have looked as lecherous as Pankaj Kapoor when he is eyeing the ample back side of Dimple who was especially given the prosthetics to get the size correct. She gets the gait so well and having worked in a Goan background in her first film Bobby in the 1970s, Dimple must have enjoyed working in the same background albeit as an older Goan lady.

Of the younger lot, Arjun is at his best grouchy stuff. But the surprise packet is Deepika — beautiful, elegant, ethereal and very subtle acting. Her character is opposite to what she has portrayed in Chennai Express or in RamLeela, and she is a total class act.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 12th, 2014