"Sapno ke saath do baat hoti hai -- ya toh pure hote hai, ya toot jaate hai," says Anil Kapoor to his daughter in the film. Unfortunately, the latter half of the philosophy holds true for Fanney Khan. You'd be dumbstruck at the unnecessarily complicated mess that the hero finds himself in, merely to serve the purpose of an over-imagined plot.

A fortnight ago, an Uber driver poured his heart out to me. He had worked for several big establishments, including a popular pizza joint, but was forced to take up a cabbie's job following the company's policy to hire younger people.

Fanney Khan is someone who is known to entertain the people around him yet ironically the movies does the exact opposite. Prashant Sharma aka Fanney Khan (Anil Kapoor), an orchestra player from 90s, has this dream of making his daughter Lata Sharma (Pihu Sand) a big singer. Her fate was decided as and when she was born.

Fanney Khan aka Prashant Sharma (Anil Kapoor) nursed a dream of becoming Mohammad Rafi. But, circumstances land him in Trombay Metal Works doing a blue-collar job. When he has a daughter, Lata (Pihu Sand), he vows to make her Lata Mangeshkar. The overweight teenager is constantly body-shamed and ridiculed for her attempts to be a pop-icon.

T-Series, Virrendra Arora, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures and Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network's Fanney Khan (UA) is the story of a man obsessed about making his daughter a famous singer and the lengths he goes to for that. It is based on Dutch film Everybody's Famous (2000).

It's often said that not just talent, but luck is also required to fulfil your dreams of making it big in showbiz. As a result, those with oodles of talent but little luck find it tough to survive in this field. But many of these individuals don't stop dreaming with the hope that one day luck will favour them. Atul Manjrekar's directorial debut FANNEY KHAN talks about these relatable aspects and promises some touching as well as hilarious moments.

Prashant Kumar a.k.a. Fanney Khan (Anil Kapoor) is a small time singer who has made a name for himself in local gatherings. He aspires to turn his teenage daughter Lata Sharma (Pihu Sand) into a rockstar on the lines of Baby Singh (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). His factory closes down and he has to drive a taxi in order to make ends meet. Chance leads him into kidnapping Baby and he's helped in this misadventure by Adhir (Rajkummar Rao).

He gets into a vibrantly electrifying jig and croons the iconic Rafi Sahab's Badan Pe Sitaare from PRINCE amidst that Jhankar Beats ( if you remember) a couple of decades earlier, the original number composed by Shankar Jaikishan for the 1961 period musical helmed by Lekh Tandon had the irresistible Shammi Kapoor wooing Vyjayanthimala with his trademark moves.

After 38 years of being a leading man, Anil Kapoor has a likability and a weathered dignity that make you instantly care about him. What's happening around him doesn't matter - he recently survived the Race 3 trainwreck. The AK principle is at work in Fanney Khan. Even when the film becomes a slog, Kapoor saab, as I call him, stands tall.

Atul Manjrekar's directorial debut Fanney Khan doesn't wander very far from its source, the Belgian comedy Everybody's Famous! (2000). A factory worker whose dreams of being a musician and singer were thwarted somewhere along the journey called life has invested great hope in his daughter.

Prashant Sharma aka Fanney Khan (Anil Kapoor) is your average middle-class man. However, what sets him apart are his dreams. Despite worshipping Mohammad Rafi and Shammi Kapoor, he has to make do by singing in an orchestra. He remains a gully boy, never really making it big. So even before his daughter utters her first word, he entrusts her with the responsibility of fulfilling his dreams, even naming her after Lata Mangeshkar.

Atul Manjerkar's melodious drama stars the ravishing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao in lead roles. Although there is a plethora of great music in the film, something that lacks melody is the script and we will tell you how.

Who is Fanne Khan really? No one, really. Fanney Khan is the mystical can-do-all man that all men aspire to be. Except that the name is used always to tell someone that he is no Fanney Khan. No one is ever told that he is Fanney Khan. That's the story of Fanney Khan.

Is it healthy for a father to burden his offspring with the pressure of realizing his unfulfilled dreams? Prashant Sharma works tirelessly in a factory and is the occasional lead singer of a local neighborhood band. He would like you to believe that it's OK. He is an adoring father and husband whose energy comes from his love for music. Prashant worships Mohammed Rafi and Shammi Kapoor and his alter ego, Fanney Khan, is a rock star in his chawl. That's as far as his dream of becoming a professional singer went.

A 1990s orchestra singer, now on the wrong side of 50, seeks recompense for his failure to make it big. He is willing to go to any length to help his only daughter attain stardom. The girl has a fine voice but she doesn't possess the body type of a pop diva. "Dekha hai apne ko mirror mein kabhi," she is frequently asked. So much so that she herself begins to believe that popular music these days is more about seeing than hearing and that "it is all about styling".

I've just finished watching Fanney Khan, and am still in shock. Not in a good way, though. That a film starring a bunch of our top star-actors can be so off the mark is a sobering, dismal thought: this Anil Kapoor-Aishwarya Rai-Rajkummar Rao concoction, based on a Belgian film Everybody's Famous, is unbelievably awful.

He couldn't become Mohammad Rafi, but harbours a dream of his daughter becoming Lata Mangeshkar. Prashant Sharma (Anil Kapoor) popularly known as Fanney Khan among his gulley friends, works hard to make ends meet, idolises Shammi Kapoor and lives only for his dream of superstardom. He fails to achieve that and hence pins his hopes on his new-born, even naming her Lata (Pihu Sand).

Fanney Khan is about collateral damage, the little people life chews up and spits out. They are the ones who lose their jobs when a corporate fat cat vamooses after dishonouring bank loans, they live in chawls and shanties dwarfed by the skyscrapers towering and those who live in them. All they have are dreams and that's what makes them walk out of their houses and into the rat race that is life.