Herald Café: How did you come up with the
idea of making a film about a Goan family?
Homi Adajania: It happened very
organically. The world I wanted to create was almost this hybrid of a Marquez
novel meets an Indian village and I wrote the story sitting in Salvador do
Mundo. So it wasn’t planned, the story grew out of a fictional place but I was
sure it needed to have the lyrical beauty of Goa.
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HC: Where in Goa did you shoot for the
film?
HA: We shot everywhere from the north to
the south except the touristy places. I went into more of the isolated places
and intentionally wanted to show a raw and unseen Goa. We stayed in Calangute
and travelled to various locations everyday.
HC: What went into the research work while
making Finding Fanny?
HA: I had the help of writer Cecil Pinto to
guide me with regards to the culture and nuances. After I was familiar with
this I pushed the space into a fictional zone. Even geographically I didn’t
stick to keeping the routes taken on the journey legit. The fictional village
of Pocolim was created by shooting in six different villages and stringing them
together visually.
HC: How did the fictitious name of the Goan
village, Pocolim come about?
HA: I looked at a map and mixed a couple of
names
HC: How did you get the actors to adopt
typical Goan mannerisms for their roles, considering that they are non-Goans?
Also, are there are any Goan actors in the film?
HA: I didn’t want to make them caricatures
or clichés for that matter. All the characters have their own levels of
dysfunctionality and can be considered oddballs, but I didn’t want them to overdo
the Goan Catholic accent, rather speak in a very neutral and casual way. All
the people in the background in feast processions, wedding scenes etc are local
Goan artists.
