Nayyi Navelli review: 2.0/5 for Yami Gautam Dhar’s witch tale

Nayyi Navelli arrives with a hook that sounds built for the festive season: a polished corporate woman marries into a traditional Meerut joint family and slowly finds herself suspected of being a daayan. The premise promises horror-comedy, family satire and a star turn from Yami Gautam Dhar. The result, according to Bollywood Hungama’s review, is a 2.0/5 misfire.

A winsome idea, an uneven ride

Yami Gautam Dhar plays Mohini, a country head who marries Raja Awasthi (Addinath M Kothare) and charms almost everyone in his sprawling household. The exception is Raja’s brother Bantu (Anurag Thakur), who pieces together strange incidents and becomes convinced Mohini is a witch. Director Balaji Mohan stages the film’s best material around Bantu’s evidence and a subplot involving Vishal IAS, his marriage to Pinky Bua and the truth that follows.

Bollywood Hungama notes that the interval twist is genuinely unexpected and smartly placed enough to keep viewers in their seats. But the gains fade quickly after the break, when the story takes a mythological turn that feels unconvincing.

Where Nayyi Navelli loses its magic

Himanshu Sharma’s story may have sounded strong on paper, but Divy Nidhi Sharma’s screenplay is thin. The comedy is dry, the pacing sags early, and several developments ask more questions than they answer. Even the horror-comedy passages in the flashback land without much impact.

• Premise: A corporate woman in a traditional family is suspected of being a daayan.
• What clicks: Yami Gautam Dhar’s restrained performance and the Vishal IAS-Pinky Bua track.
• What doesn’t: The second half’s mythological angle, the Haridwar priests sequence and the family’s abrupt turnaround.

The review is particularly blunt about one scene: Mohini travels to Haridwar and asks priests to name Lord Rama’s descendants, only to come up empty. That moment embodies the film’s larger problem – a concept that needed sharper writing and wittier execution.

Should you watch it?

The cast does what it can. Yami Gautam Dhar rises above the script, Addinath M Kothare fits his part, and Anurag Thakur keeps things watchable even when his performance goes over the top. G V Prakash Kumar’s background score works better than the songs, though ‘The World of Nayyi Navelli’ has a catchy tune and ‘Awadhiya Ke Raja’ may find a life of its own.

For Hindi film fans, this is a low-expectations watch at best. The extended festive weekend and the Ramayana connection might bring in some initial curiosity, but the review warns that negative word of mouth is likely to hurt the film’s longer run.

Source: Bollywood Hungama