‘Hi Nanna’ review: Emotional roller-coaster

Cast: Nani, Mrunal Thakur, Baby Kiara, Priyadarshi, Shruthi Haasan, Neha Sharma and others

Director: Shouryuv

Music: Hesham Abdul Wahab

Cinematography: Sanu John Varughese

Producer: Mohan Cherukuri

Rating: 3.25/5

Nani, who created his image as a Natural Star comes with a romantic breezy story titled “Hi Nanna” after the massy love story “Dasara.” The trailer of “Hi Nanna “created required buzz for the film and Mrunal Thakur, who got huge fame with “Sita Ramam” joining him in the lead cast made it more intriguing. The film hits theatres on Thursday and let’s see how it fares at box-office.

Story

Viraj (Nani) is a fashion photographer who lives in Mumbai with his six-year-old daughter Mahi (Baby Kiara). Kiara wants to know about her mother but Viraj never discloses that side to his daughter. Kiara bumps into Yashna (Mrunal Thakur) and they both force Viraj to reveal the story. Who is Mahi’s mother and what happened to her? How does Viraj’s revelations change the lives of all three of them forms the main crux of the story.

Analysis

The director Shouryuv takes his own time to set the premise. An interesting start gradually falls into a template love story, but the pre-interval and interval episodes bring some freshness to the story. The cute little girl Kiara as Mahi steals the show in first half. The poetic ‘Samayamaa’ song, the guitar song ‘Ammadi’ are outstanding.

Second half has more emotions and heart touching moments. Nani delivers solid performance as usual. Mrunal Thakur is so beautiful in some scenes and delivers good performance when required. Climax is the main heart of the film and it delivers perfectly.

On a whole, A decent film with well written second half appeals to the family audience and class movie lovers. The cast, background score and songs are major asset. Every lyric you hear blends well with the narrative. Keeping in mind as it is a slow paced film, set your expectations accordingly and watch it.

Performances

Nani brings back his boy next door image back with “Hi Nanna.” The role of Viraj is a cakewalk for Nani and there is nothing exceptional in this film that he did not do earlier. As usual, he comes back with a bang with his minute expressions and entertains. Mrunal Thakur is attractive and a perfect fit for the role she did here. The small nuances in her expressions make her different from the lot. The child actress Kiara is super cute and emoted very well.

Priyadarshi appears as Viraj’s friend, but he plays a very crucial role in getting the lead character to reach where to has to be. Priyadarshi gets a full-length role and he gets a good part in the well-made climax too. Shruti Haasan appears in just the song and she doesn’t make any impact. Neha Sharma will be seen in a blink-and-miss role. Other actors Nassar, Angad Bedi omes with routine roles and engages.

Technicalities

For a debut director like Shouryuv, “Hi Nanna” is a well-made drama and his next film should be much more interesting. The director’s idea is fresh as it has an intriguing line, but the execution derails most of the time with a snail-paced narrative and typical scenes all over it. The only thing that keeps us hanging around is Hesham Wahab’s background music and the cinematography with rich visuals. The screenplay could have been better. The songs are soothing.

Advantages

Lead actor’s performances

Background Music

Cinematography

Drawbacks

Slow narration

Predictable scenes