General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Abhiyum Naanum (அபியும் நானும்)

Abhiyum Naanum (அபியும் நானும், "Abhi and I") is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language comedy-drama film directed by Radha Mohan and produced by Prakash Raj, about a doting father recounting his relationship with his daughter from her birth to her marriage.¹^•² It stars Prakash Raj as the father Raghuraman and Trisha Krishnan as his daughter Abhi, with Aishwarya, Ganesh Venkatraman, and Prithviraj Sukumaran in supporting roles.¹ The film was released on 19 December 2008, runs 147 minutes, and was remade in Telugu as Akasamantha (2009) and in Kannada as Naanu Nanna Kanasu (2010).³^•⁴

Key fact	Detail
Release	19 December 2008 (India), Tamil language, U certificate³^•⁵
Director / producer	Radha Mohan (director and writer); Prakash Raj (producer, Duet Movies)¹^•³
Lead cast	Prakash Raj (Raghuraman), Trisha Krishnan (Abhi Raghuraman), Aishwarya (Anu), Ganesh Venkatraman (Joginder Singh), Prithviraj Sukumaran (Sudhakar)¹
Music	Vidyasagar, who had earlier composed for Radha Mohan's Mozhi (2007)¹^•⁶
Runtime	2 hours 27 minutes (147 min)³
Remakes	Telugu Akasamantha (2009); Kannada Naanu Nanna Kanasu (2010), produced and directed by Prakash Raj⁴
Recognition	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film, second prize¹
IMDb rating	7.7/10 from about 1,900 users³

Spoilers

Plot

The frame story brings two fathers together. At a playground, Raghuraman, whose daughter is now an adult, strikes up a conversation with Sudhakar, who has a small child, and narrates how his bond with his daughter developed over time, along with the struggles he faced in coming to terms with her marriage.⁷ The tale unfolds as a flashback, with Raghuraman relating to Sudhakar the story of a perfect daughter and his love for her.²

The narrative follows Abhi from childhood through adolescence to adulthood, much of it set around the family home in Ooty. Raghuraman's endless preparations for the "parents' interview" at her school enrollment, and his wife Anu's reactions, are played for comedy.² As Abhi grows from a little girl into a young woman, Raghuraman is forced to acknowledge that his daughter is an adult capable of making her own decisions. The turning point comes when she brings home her fiancé, Joginder Singh, a Punjabi man with a large, verbose family, and expects her father to accept him and his causes, telling him she knows what she is doing.²

Cast and characters

Trisha Krishnan as Abhi Raghuraman, the daughter⁷
Prakash Raj as Raghuraman, the father, who also produced the film⁷
Aishwarya Bhaskaran as Anu Raghuraman, the mother⁷
Ganesh Venkatraman as Joginder Singh, Abhi's fiancé; a newcomer from Mumbai whom the director cast deliberately so the character would be unfamiliar to the audience⁷^•⁸
Prithviraj Sukumaran as Sudhakar, in a special appearance¹
Elango Kumaravel as Ravi Shasthri, a beggar Abhi brings into the household⁷^•²
Thalaivasal Vijay as Mohan, Raghuraman's friend⁷

Production

Radha Mohan had made Mozhi (2007), a film about a deaf woman, with the same team of producer-star Prakash Raj and composer Vidyasagar; Abhiyum Naanum was their next collaboration.⁸^•⁶ In a December 2008 interview, the director said he had carried the father-daughter idea for more than a decade and had first told Prakash about it years before they could make the film; after Mozhi, the story came back to them when they discussed their next project.⁸

Direction of the performances. Radha Mohan said he told Prakash Raj not to prepare for the role, wanting "the father in him to come out"; Prakash Raj is himself the father of two girls, and after the first scene he agreed that it came naturally. Aishwarya received the same instruction for the mother's role.⁸ The film was first scheduled for a Diwali release and moved to December.⁸ It premiered at the Satyam cinema complex in Chennai on three screens, Seasons, Santham, and Six Degrees, a premiere arrangement the trade press described as unseen before for a Tamil movie.⁹

Reception and legacy

Contemporary reviews were largely positive. Ayyappa Prasad of Nowrunning rated the film worth watching, comparing it to "a mellowed champagne" that leaves "a nice, contented warmth within," and praised Prakash Raj's performance.¹⁰ Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff wrote that Duet Movies and Radha Mohan had "shown freshness" in handling a father-daughter subject usually treated in hackneyed fashion, and that they had more or less maintained the reputation created with Mozhi.² The Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan gave the film 40 out of 100, calling it a father's diary filled with love for his daughter and crediting the director for telling the father-daughter relationship entertainingly with a social perspective.¹ The film received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film, second prize.¹

Remakes and influence. After the film's success in Tamil, it was remade in Telugu as Akasamantha (2009) and then in Kannada, with Prakash Raj producing, directing, and acting as the father opposite Ramya; the Kannada version became Naanu Nanna Kanasu (2010).⁴ Reviewers and later commentators have noted that the story was heavily inspired by the Hollywood comedy Father of the Bride.⁴^•¹¹ A 2025 academic study of non-verbal narrative in Tamil cinema cited the film as an example of conveying emotion through silence and gesture, pointing to Raghuraman's fading smile and trembling hands in close-up when Abhi reveals her love, and a dialogue-free farewell scene.¹²

Availability. Streaming access has varied by region and over time: JustWatch reported the film unavailable for streaming in the United States and last available on Amazon Video in the United Kingdom until April 2018, while Moviefone and Plex listed it on Eros Now Select via Apple TV, Zee5, and Simply South.⁷^•¹³^•¹⁴^•¹⁵ A full upload is also available on YouTube through the Eros Universe Tamil channel.¹⁶

Same-name television series

A separate Tamil serial titled Abiyum Naanum aired on Sun TV from October 2020. It is a family drama about a young girl, Abhi, who enters the household of Siva and Meena and forms a bond with Meena, and it shares no connection with the 2008 film beyond the title.¹⁷^•¹⁸

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026