Monday Dec 22 2008, Chennai

Daddy’s day out!

Genre - Drama

Directed by - Radha Mohan

Produced by - Prakash Raj

Music by - Vidya Sagar

Casts - Aishwarya, Ganesh Venkatraman Prithviraj Thalaivaasal Vijay

Starring - Prakash Raj, Trisha

When a child is born a father is also born! And the problem starts when the father refuses to grow up! This is the premise of ‘Abhiyum Naanum’, directed by Radha Mohan.

Reghuram (Prakash Raj) is one such father. Abhi (Trisha), his daughter, has a lot of love for Reghuram but she is too individualistic to be not in conflict with her dad. The mom (Aishwarya) is caught in between these two!

It’s the screenplay that defeats this movie, which starts off well but goes off-track, with some unconvincingly written scenes. The director goes overboard with his thematic assertions and after a while, the movie starts to mock itself.

Radha Mohan has conceived and executed some scenes well (Special mention: the scene that has Abhi celebrating her father’s birthday under the full moon in the middle of a lake.)

That Abhi’s dad gets shattered hearing about daughter’s romance, is natural. But what follows is chaos. The characterization of Abhi’s lover, Joginder Singh, leaves much to be desired. As the movie treks towards the climax, it becomes a victim of shabbily written scenes. This is one feel-good movie that looks too good to be convincing.

Debutante Preethy cranks the cam and gives a few good frames. Vidyasagar’s music is a letdown though he has managed to give a soothing melody with ‘Va Va En Dhevadhaye’.

The film belongs to Prakashraj, who has rendered a stunning performance. Trisha as Abhi is quite competent. Aishwarya and Ganesh Venkatraman have done a good job.

Had the director worked out a more convincing screenplay, ‘Abhiyum Naanum’ would have been a great watch.

- FS Desk