Director Homi Adajania says he would not have made his English satire Finding Fanny without Naseeruddin Shah, who plays an oddball postman in the movie.
Naseeruddin's character sets out on a journey to find his childhood love Stephanie 'Fanny' Fernandes with the help of four other people.
"Naseer bhai was always my first choice for the film. I have replaced other characters but if Naseer bhai would have said no to me I would not have made this film. He liked my script and we laughed a lot after reading it," Homi, who had also worked with the veteran actor in his debut film Being Cyrus, said.
The filmmaker said he wanted to make Finding Fanny before his last love story Cocktail but he delayed it because Naseeruddin did not have dates.
"The reason I didn't make it at that time is because Naseer didn't have dates. We were almost ready to start the project in two months. But I dropped it because my wife said if you don't have your desired cast then drop it. I started making Cocktail and it was a blessing in disguise because it gave me the kind of money we wanted for Fanny," he said.
Homi says every song and sequence in the film is apt with the script be it Dimple Kapadia's prosthetic bum.
"The reason that I wanted to have her big bum because she is hiding her painful secret with her appearances and behaviour. I went to her and told her that you need to put a big bum and she readily agreed to do that," he said.
Dimple would be seen in the funny character of Rosalina 'Rosie' Eucharistica, who has a bizarre fashion sense.
"Dimple is playing a busy body in the fictitious village of Goa. She is actually a lazy woman but she likes to portray herself as someone who wants to do everything. She is a widow and lives with her daughter-in-law Deepika Padukone," he said.
The film was shot in Goa and it has tried to revive the old-world charm of the state which is now being shown as the destination of drugs and rave parties.
"We are happy to revive the image of the place as the idea was to shoot the jungles, Portuguese architecture and back waters rather than the busy city life. We shot in the interiors of Goa. The idea was to make a fictional Goa and it did not have any time zone. I shot in seven villages to create my own village and logistics were a main issue," he said.
Finding Fanny also stars Arjun Kapoor, Pankaj Kapur and Deepika Padukone in pivotal roles and is set to release on September 12.
