Finding Fanny - did you find Fanny?

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Finding Fanny was a damp squib for me. By the end of the film, i wasn’t sure if we really found Fanny or if the person we found was really Fanny! 

i guess because my expectations were quite high thinking that the film will be in the league of Being Cyrus. But that is not the case. The first half goes well. In fact, the interval seemed to be too early and the film hadn’t got us to the point of “what next?” And the second half made no sense.

Good things first. The look of the film is good. The actors roped in is perhaps the main reason why so many people made it to the theaters in the first place. The best part of the film were the dialogues. The Goan style of English is well captured. And the parts written in English are also above an average Bollywood film. 

But to me, the goodness ends there. The film fails to capture any potential that the film’s lead actors or the fabulous supporting cast offers. There’s promise in the introduction of Dimple Kapadia but the film fails to take her role to the level of Being Cyrus. Naseeruddin Shah marvelously portrays the aging, lost lover. But he too, like Dimple, has no scope to spread the magic of his presence beyond a point. 

When Arjun Kapoor enters the scene, you hope that there will be revival of old romance and at least that thread of the story would take you somewhere. But except for a scene groping in the dark, there is no depth to this angle as well.

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So, at the end of the movie, i want to know if this was a love story? No. Because the lead characters don’t go through one in the film. Is this the story of unrequited love? Maybe. Because Ferdi does venture out to find his lost love of 46 years. Is this a tragedy? Maybe. Because Fanny isn’t part of Ferdi’s life despite the effort. But, like I said earlier, I am not even left with the satisfaction of having found the right Fanny in the first place! 

i guess this film is going to cash in on the initial boom of the wonderful trailers which portray it as a winner. But by next weekend the boom would have gone bust! 

Flimsy films - 2 States

i had read the book 2 States way back when it was released. i thought it was by far the best book that Chetan Bhagat had come up with. His previous books were too juvenile for my taste. And as much as i can remember, the book was more interesting than the film. The depiction of North - South cultural divide was more fun to read in the book. Since it was the writer’s own experiences, his writing was so much better.

i did not expect much from the film and true enough it did turn out to be mediocre. The scenes which are supposed to reinforce cultural differences fell flat. i kept waiting for a dramatic turning point which would define the crux of the film and make that connect with the audience. But the only thing that came was the end of the movie and a sigh of relief from deep within me. The film lacks any one thing that might serve as a redeeming feature - romance, performances, cultural differences, comedy. None! The songs seem more like an intrusion in a film where i am waiting for such clutter to clear and a real conflict to emerge.

In terms of acting, Alia Bhatt came as surprise to me. Guess i was too influenced by all the twitter jokes on her dense intelligence and did not expect her to be any good. Plus, to be honest, i am a little prejudiced since she is a Director’s daughter and hence her take off through a Karan Johar film. But she does pull off the role well even though she doesn’t look remotely South Indian - but then not all south indians have stereotypical looks. She dressed well through the film, though a little overdressed for her in-the-office scenes in the second half. Surprisingly, i found Arjun Kapoor more disappointing. He seems to have one static expression on his face which lasts almost the entire film. i expect a lot more acting talent from the nephew of Anil Kapoor. He was so much better in Ishqzaade.

The only really great scenes are with Amrita Singh and Ronit Roy in it. Seasoned actors completely in the skin of their characters. You really feel the tension between the couple in those scenes, like they really have a history between them. Amrita is so credible when she tries hard to act the snooty punjabi mother-in-law, the only role in her life that gives her an an upper hand as opposed to being a suppressed wife all her life.

Since at no point does my heart go out to the characters and their predicament, nope, not even when they separate and she refuses to talk to him, i wouldn’t say I came out of the theater feeling exhilarated about love winning the battle after all. You can watch it once, when it comes on TV. But you did not miss much if you did not watch even this one.

You can read my last Filmsy film post here