Story
Viraj (Nani) is a single father of Mahi (Baby Kiara). She keeps asking Viraj about her mother and he keeps avoiding it. Mahi becomes a friend with Yashna (Mrunal Thakur) and Mahi asks Viraj to tell about mother as she fulfilled a task for it. Viraj starts telling the story. Rest of the story is about what happened to the wife of Viraj and how Yashna is connected to the whole thing.

Artists Performance
Nani comes up with one of the best performances in his career. He is excellent. Mrunal Thakur is very good. Baby Kiara steals the show and is very endearing. There is one scene where she needs to change her expressions quickly and she does it so naturally. Priyadarshi is good as the hero’s friend. Jayaram, Nassar, Viraj Ashwin and Angad Bedi are decent.

Story - screenplay - direction: It is a simple story. What makes a difference is the screenplay and some variables (baby suffering from an ailment). Director has taken his own time to narrate the story. He was able to extract emotions in key scenes. The interval twist makes the story more interesting. However, the scenes in the 2nd half are predictable. The limited locations (Coonoor, Mumbai and Goa resort) and limited cast also restricts the span of the story. The romantic track in the flashback doesn't have depth. It’s nice to see that debutant director Shouryuv came up with a story which has screenplay and emotions as USP. However, a faster and more engaging narration would have helped.

Other departments: Background score by Hesham Abdul Wahad is excellent and adds emotional punch to the scenes. Samayama is good among the songs. Cinematography by Sanu John Varughese (Jersey and Shyam Singha Roy fame) is eye candy. Most of the visuals have the texture of ad films. Dialogues are good. Production design is very good. Editing is okay. Production Values by Vyra Entertainment are grand.

Analysis: Hi Nanna is a heartwarming film about a father's love towards his daughter and a daughter’s longing for her mother who she never met. Producers and Nani should be appreciated for not adding commercial elements (like entertainment) and allowing the director to shoot the film as per the script’s demand. Performances of Nani and Baby Kaira hold the film together. On the flipside, the narration should have been more engaging. On the whole, Hi Nanna is a decent effort to bring out a heartwarming film.