Bollywood review: Move over SRK, Naseeruddin Shah gives romance a wicked twist in Finding Fanny'
Homi Adajania's third movie is romance of an outrageously wicked kind
Published
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Bollywood's obsessed about love, yet not one of its many love stories
hold out as much promise, passion, pain, and wit as Homi Aajania's
incredibly sinful labour of love - Finding Fanny'.
It's a world so utterly chaotic and crazy, yet one that magically
transforms into something so beautifully whimsical without being
over-the-top.
Watching Homi flaunt his extraordinary craft while building a story
of unrequited love around five odd characters, each weighed down by a
past none too glorious, in what could truly be his masterpiece, is
strangely uplifting. More so, because he frames his story in clean,
simple frames, devoid of stereotypes.
The shrill-pitched Freddy, a postman without much to do, is woken up
one night to be reminded of a love he could've possessed 46 years ago.
The memory breaks him down, and he wails inconsolably, waking his
neighbours. The lights come on, but the people never step out, offering
an interesting insight at how chaos and drama often play out in reality.
He shares his aged written proposal to his "only" love Fanny with the angelic widow Angie, who decides she must take him to her.
She collects her boisterous mother-in-law Rosie, the lustful painter
Don Pedro, and her long-lost grumpy pal Savio for a drive that could
help reunite Freddy with his Fanny.
And, there begins their epic journey, magnificently penned by Homi
and Kersi Khambatta, gorgeously captured by cinematographer Anil Mehta,
and swiftly edited to 105 minutes by Sreekar Prasad.
It's a road-trip like no other, with the five oddballs and a pesky
cat, huddled in a rusty, vintage dodge. It's a journey with many
pit-stops and break-downs, that lend innumerable twists and turns, each
more terrific than the other. And, each propelling the story forward and
throwing insight into the people they are, and the ones they will grow
into.
If there's a bone to pick, it's the unnecessary need to texture the
sinfully delightful English narrative with Hindi. For the few of us in
Dubai, who've had to watch it in two-languages, the essence was
unforgivably diluted. The jarring disconnect between the motely bunch's
voice and their lip movement is distracting. Had Homi decided to reshoot
in Hindi, it would've been far more impactful.
That grouch aside, there's nothing pretentious about Homi's latest take on love.
Bollywood's also about its heroes, who are exceptionally
good-looking, waltz their ladies with killer moves, beat the baddies in a
flash and win the world over with their charisma, yet none of them are
any match for the awfully shabby old man from the rustic Goan town of
Pokoli.
Naseeruddin Shah outshines as the timid, yet hopelessly romantic
Freddy. He's poetry in motion, and that's no exaggeration. You watch him
articulate so luminously with his eyes, that you can't help but fall in
love with him.
Homi even indulges him some wicked lines. "It's funny how you can cry
underwater," he wonders, so innocently, when awakened from a dream that
dips him in the ocean. At another, he simply announces "I don't want to
die", when coaxed into searching for a lady he spent years longing for.
Another precious moment arrives when he forces Savio to stop the car,
just minutes before the possible big reunion, only to brush his messy
hair, put on his bow-tie, and thank his fellow travellers for prompting
him to go the extra mile.
After Naseer, it's Dimple who dazzles as the voluptuous Rosie,
enthusiastically surrendering to her insecurities without ever hamming
it. Dimple's brilliance emerges when she painfully indulges an impious
artist and is aghast at how his artwork finally shapes up. It's the same
artist who persuades her, earlier on, to imagine how vividly he can
portray her on canvas. She's left amused yet unable to imagine his
vision. A confusion that she cleverly translates on-screen.
Pankaj Kapoor comes third, as the offensive painter Don Pedro, who
unashamedly pursues his muse for his creative nirvana. Despite playing a
person, who is not entirely flattering, he allows us to tolerate, and
occasionally love Don Pedro. You sense there's an endearing side to him,
when you watch him greedily collect a handful of biscuits, and happily
dips them into his cup of tea. It's when the soggy half disappears into
the tea before it reaches his mouth that you sense his hopeless
dejection.
Deepika Padukone steps in to the fourth slot, not because she isn't
good, but because she's far less experienced, and the others have far
more promising parts to play. That said, she's divine to look at, and
has evolved into an actor of repute. There's not an expression or mood
she doesn't get right.
There's also Arjun Kapoor, who breathes fire into the rugged Savio,
who returns to his village hoping to win back the girl who he loved but
never proposed to. He holds his own, and matches up to the other
seasoned actors with integrity, and that's saying a lot.
And, a special mention for Ranveer Singh as Angie's few-minute-old
on-screen husband Gabo, for stepping into a slot that could've gone
fairly unnoticed but one that he didn't allow.
With so much going for Finding Fanny', make sure you'd step out and
hitch a ride with this mad bunch and go on their road-trip because it's
truly one-of-a-kind.
comment:
p_commentcount