Vyra Entertainments and Anand Pandit Motion Pictures’ Hi Papa (dubbed from Telugu film Hi Nanna) is an emotional film about a father and his little daughter.
Viraj (Nani) is a professional photographer. He is a single parent to his daughter, Mahi (Kiara Khanna). He avoids telling his daughter anything about her mother although she often questions him. Then one day, he relents and tells her that he would reveal all if she stands first in her class examinations. Mahi tops in her class but Viraj doesn’t keep his promise. Irritated, Mahi leaves her home. As bad luck would have it, Mahi is about to meet with an accident. But Yashna (Mrunal Thakur) saves her. How Yashna changes the lives of Viraj and Mahi forms the latter part of the drama.
Shouryuv has written a story which is neither novel nor completely engaging. His screenplay is quite slow-paced because of which it often loses its grip on the audience. The romantic portion is not very interesting, more so in the initial stages. The drama actually picks up from the pre-interval scene. Emotions don’t touch the heart as much as they ought to have. Rashmi Singh’s dialogues are alright.
Nani excels as Viraj. He delivers a noteworthy performance and gets into the skin of the character. Mrunal Thakur steals the show as Yashna. She plays her character with complete conviction. Kiara Khanna is lovely as Viraj’s daughter, Mahi. Nassar lends able support as Mahi’s doctor. Jayaram makes his mark as Yashna’s father. Priyadarshi Pulikonda is good as Justin. Angad Bedi has his moments as Yashna’s fiancé, Dr. Aravind. Viraj Ashwin is natural as Dr. Aravind’s brother. Shruti Haasan lends star value in the Odiyamma song. Others are adequate.
Shouryuv’s direction is fair. He should’ve been more careful about the pace. Hesham Abdul Wahab’s music is nice but the Hindi songs are not popular. Lyrics (Kausar Munir and Raqueeb Alam) are quite meaningful. Song picturisations (Bosco Martis, Vishwa Raghu and Polaki Vijay) are good. Hesham Abdul Wahab’s background music is impactful. Sanu John Varghese’s cinematography is excellent. Vijay and Pruthvi’s action and stunt scenes afford thrill. Avinash Kolla’s production designing is nice. Praveen Antony’s editing could’ve been sharper. Dubbing is proper.
On the whole, Hi Papa doesn’t stand much of a chance at the box-office.
Released on 8-12-’23 at Glamour (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Anand Pandit Motion Pictures. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over, Opening was weak everywhere. The film was released yesterday (7-12-’23) in East Punjab.
