Franklin Fernandes, better known as Frank Fernand, was an Indian film maker and musician who is remembered for some of the earliest films in Konkani cinema, such as Amchem Noxib and Nirmonn.
Frank Fernand was born in Curchorem, Goa and had his initial training in music from Diego Rodrigues and mastered violin and trumpet. In 1936, he moved to Bombay. He began playing music under well-known band-leader George Theodore at Green's Hotel and Taj Mahal Hotel. In 1942, he left Mumbai for Mussoorie to play with Rudy Cotton's band and blossomed into a fine jazz musician. He lived and played in Delhi for a while the same year. In the 1940s, when he was playing at a resort in Mussoorie, Mahatma Gandhi happened to be passing through. Frank Fernand listened to one of his lectures, and it brought about a big change in him. He began trying to find a way to play jazz in an Indian way.
India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's biography The Discovery of India is also said to have influenced him deeply, and resulted in his complete change of outlook. With a sense of patriotism, he later considered 15 August every year as the greatest event of the year.