Mumbai, Feb 1 (IANS): Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar is set to play director Homi Adajania's character in the quirky comedy "The Fakir of Venice".

According to a source in the know of developments, the real life portrayal of the unusual experiences and life events of Adajania, who has helmed films like "Finding Fanny" and "Cocktail", will be shown in the upcoming film.

Directed by Anand Surapur and produced by Punit Desai (October Films), the film also stars Annu Kapoor, Kamal Sidhu, Italian actress Valentina Carnelutti and German actor Mathieu Carriere.

In the movie, Farhan, as a production executive, gets an unusual assignment to find an Indian holy saint who could stay under sand with only his hands visible outside.

He accepts the impossible task of finding one and ends up meeting Annu's character for the task and thus, begins a journey to Venice. How the drama unfolds in this journey, forms the main premise of the film.

It is about intense human behaviour, strong relationships regardless of language barriers, humour, conspiracy, lies and truth.

The film was shot in Mumbai, Banaras, Ladakh and Venice.