Fanney Khan

Plot

Prashant Kumar Sharma, a part-time vocalist in an orchestra, goes by the nickname Fanney Khan. He always wanted to be a singer but life got in the way. When his daughter is born, he rushes to the hospital and names her Lata after the legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. Years later, Lata has a wonderful voice but faces constant mockery because she is overweight.

She idolizes Baby Singh, a superstar singer who is exhausted with her fame and craves a break. Prashant loses his factory job and starts driving a taxi. One day, Baby's manager Kakkad suggests she stage a wardrobe malfunction for publicity. Furious, Baby storms out of his car and flags down a taxi—which happens to be driven by Prashant.

He slips sleeping pills into her water bottle and kidnaps her, planning to use the situation to get an album made for his daughter. He calls his best friend Adhir Sinha for help, and after much convincing, Adhir agrees. During the ordeal, Adhir and Baby become close. She tells him her real name is Sumitra, that she grew up in an orphanage, and that she learned music from a church choir.

She also thanks him for bringing her pet dog Ustaad, her only true friend. Trouble hits when Prashant sees on TV that the police know about the kidnapping—the watchman at Baby's building reported seeing Adhir take her dog. Prashant eventually tells Baby about Lata, and Baby promises to make Lata even better than her. Wearing a Rajnikanth mask, Prashant demands that Kakkad release Lata's album.

After recording, Lata talks about her family and experience, which tips off Kakkad that her father is the kidnapper. He recognizes Prashant at their next meeting. Prashant removes his mask and says he trusts Kakkad and Adhir.

Production

In June 2016, it was announced that Anil Kapoor would play the lead in a Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra production tentatively called Fanney Khan. The film is an official remake of the 2000 Belgian Dutch-language satirical comedy Everybody's Famous!, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 73rd Academy Awards. Debutant director Atul Manjrekar, who previously directed TV ads and was a close associate of Mehra, took the helm. Musical recording and other prep work began on 20 June 2016, and auditions were held for two teenage roles.

Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment directly approached Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to play the pop singer, and the role was announced for Rai. In August 2017, R. Madhavan was considered for the romantic interest opposite Rai, but on 31 August 2017, Madhavan said he couldn't do the film due to scheduling conflicts. That same day, Mehra revealed on Twitter that Rajkummar Rao would play the role. Rao said he would attend workshops and readings after finishing work on the web-series Bose: Dead/Alive in Poland.

Principal photography began on 3 September 2017 in Mumbai, initially only with Kapoor, Divya Dutta, and debutant Pihu Sand. Rao and Rai joined on 3 October 2017.

On 6 October 2017, Rai refused to film because she was unhappy with her costumes, so shooting was postponed to late October and Manish Malhotra was brought in to redesign her clothes. Filming was set to resume on 26 October 2017 but was delayed again after Rao fractured his leg while filming for the TV show Lip Sing Battle. Rai finally began shooting her scenes with Kapoor on 5 November 2017.

Release

Fanney Khan was originally scheduled for a worldwide release on 15 June 2018, coinciding with Eid, but it was postponed. It first came out in the United Arab Emirates on 2 August 2018, followed by a worldwide release on 3 August 2018.

Did You Know?

• Anil Kapoor's character Fanney Khan is a part-time vocalist in an orchestra who later works as a taxi driver.
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's character Baby Singh reveals her real name is Sumitra and that she grew up in an orphanage learning music from a church choir.
• The film marks the third collaboration between Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after Taal (1999) and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (2000).