PHOTO: HINDUSTAN TIMES
Aishwarya Rai's upcoming 'Fanney Khan' to talk about body shaming in big way
The great Indian dream of superstardom coincides with Fanney’s dreams of his daughter becoming a successful singer. It was a dream that he himself couldn’t achieve all his life, remaining a part of the orchestra in his community. Fanney works in a factory alongside Abhir (Rajkummar Rao) and when they lose their jobs, the few dreams that the former had are dashed. In a parallel world, Baby Singh (Aishwarya Rai Bachhan) is fed up of her soulless stardom, her moral-less manager (Girish Kulkarni) and her exploitative boss.
PHOTO: BOLLYWOOD LIFEAdhir and Fanney fail to find work and are apparently left with no choice but to go along with kidnapping a successful singer for ransom. Fanney is shown to be a good father, a good husband and a kind friend but his sudden decision to kidnap Baby starts to look less like a lapse of judgment and more like a hidden psychopath, which is one of the many reasons why Fanney Khan does not work.
Lata is an overweight teenager who is often ridiculed at events where she attempts to sing popular numbers and dance in skimpy clothes. Her character isn’t likeable, nor at any point, despite her various heart-rending pitfalls, do you want to root for her to succeed. While the actor Pihu Sand is a commendable dancer and convincing performer, her role as Lata fails to create the desired impact. She is abrasive and angry, accurate for a struggling teenager, but the shtick is overplayed and under explained.
PHOTO: CELEB DHABAPreviously depicted in Aamir Khan’s Secret Superstar, the story of a young girl of humble origins, rising to superstardom by singing is inadequately replicated in this film. Your main hopes and empathy are placed on Fanney, again a weakly written role, but with enough heart provided by Anil for you to stay engaged in the plot.
Anil is hilarious and lovable as the fraught father of an angsty teenage daughter. Rajkummar is flawless and his comedic timing makes many moments in the film worth the watch. His character Adhir is a kind, helpful young man with a conniving, selfish, swindler sort of a girlfriend who takes advantage of him and treats him poorly. Rajkummar brings a certain sweetness to the role and shares a plausible chemistry with Aishwarya, who fills up the screen with her beauty and supplies some comic relief.
PHOTO: FIRST POSTThe funniest scenes are where all the three protagonists are in a room together: Fanney, Adhir and Baby create wonderful magic and are the highest points in the film. But those scenes are few and far in between and everything else in Fanney Khan is a disjointed attempt to pull at your heartstrings. Unfortunately, it just ends up annoying you for the cheap buyouts that haven’t been executed successfully.
The film tries to impart some good messages, such as body-shaming, poverty, disenfranchisement and casting couches. But the dialogues and climax are an absolute bust. The buildup is somewhat satisfying but as the stakes go higher, Fanney Khan loses its grip. It becomes implausible, filled with loopholes and you are left with little feeling. In an attempt to create high emotional impact, the end becomes cheesy, underwhelming and unconvincing.
PHOTO: NEW INDIAN EXPRESSAishwarya Rai Bachchan shares her experience with fat-shaming
Verdict: The performances by the lead actors are the only good things about Fanney Khan. Other than that, the film’s music, choreography, plot, story and dialogues are either average or struggling to hold on to a fairly mediocre standard.
Rating: 2/5 stars.
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