Nayyi Navelli: Yami Gautam Praised, Film Panned

Yami Gautam's Nayyi Navelli opened on Oct. 16 to reviews that like her and not much else. The horror-comedy with a mythological second half, directed by Balaji Mohan, has been called loud, confused and overstuffed by most major critics, though a few outlets found it a fun family entertainer.

What the film is about

The Hindu's Shreyas Pande describes a small-town comedy that turns into patchy horror and then a devotional, mythological spectacle. Gautam plays Mohini, newly married into the Awasthi family of Meerut, whose brother-in-law Bantu, played by Anurag Thakur, suspects she is a daayan. Adinath Kothare plays her husband Raja. Sunita Rajwar, Mita Vashisht and Sushmita Mukherjee fill out the family. The film runs 138 minutes, and G.V. Prakash Kumar composed the music, according to The Hindu. Zee News lists Suneel Sinha as Raja's father.

What critics said

The Hindu's headline calls it "high on decibels, low on charms" and says the film loses its identity once it descends into mythology. India Today's review is titled "Witchful thinking, wasted potential." Both single out Thakur's comic turn and Gautam's commitment.

The [Bollywood.com](http://Bollywood.com) critics page shows the spread. DNA India gave 4.5 out of 5 and Koimoi 4, calling it an enjoyable festive entertainer. Hindustan Times, Filmibeat, the Times of India and India Today gave 2.5. Pinkvilla and Bollywood Hungama gave 2. News18 gave 1 out of 5 and said the experience was not worth the ticket price. The Indian Express and NDTV also criticised the screenplay and the volume of the presentation, without a star score shown in that listing.

The opening

Zee News reports that Nayyi Navelli collected Rs 3.25 crore net on Day 1 across 6,281 shows, with an overall occupancy of 11 percent. That is Rs 3.83 crore gross in India, Rs 0.75 crore overseas and Rs 4.58 crore worldwide. By Oct. 18, the tracker MovezBox showed Rs 7.25 crore net in India, Rs 8.63 crore gross and Rs 10.13 crore worldwide.

Film Information said both new Hindi releases of the week, this film and Prahaar, opened to poor houses on Friday. A weekend table from the tracker Sacnic puts Nayyi Navelli at Rs 7.25 crore, fourth on the India chart behind Jailer 2, Ranabaali and Drishyam 3. Zee News framed it as beating Rajkummar Rao's Prahaar on opening day.

A week of good and bad news for Gautam

The release comes weeks after Gautam won the National Film Award for Best Actress for Article 370, her first, at the ceremony held in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat. At that event she said, "I am still trying to soak in this moment," as reported by the Indian Express. The Hindu also published a conversation with her about completing 10 years in Hindi cinema, titled "My journey has just begun." A hit would have capped a strong season. This film has not given her one so far, but critics are not blaming her performance.

What to watch for

Festive-season family films sometimes find a second wind through word of mouth. With the Diwali period ahead and Ramayana due on Nov. 5 according to India Today, the window for Nayyi Navelli to grow looks narrow. The next two weekends will show whether the Rs 7.25 crore start is the floor or a ceiling.

What we could not confirm

We could not confirm an official producer-issued collection figure. Day-one and cumulative numbers come from trackers and a news report, and they differ in how they count net and gross. We also could not confirm the writing credits, since The Hindu credits the screenplay to Divy Nidhi Sharma while [Bollywood.com](http://Bollywood.com) lists Himanshu Sharma as writer. Critics' scores come from a third-party roundup.

Sources

*Cover photo: Bollywood Hungama, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yami_Gautam_Dhar_during_the_screening_of_A_Thursday_enhanced.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yami_Gautam_Dhar_during_the_screening_of_A_Thursday_enhanced.jpg)* (CC BY 3.0).*