Ideally, a stew of multiple ingredients should be tasty and nutritious, but Nayyi Navelli is neither. It’s just a stew, with a stre-e-etched climax that could have been shortened to less than half.
My heart goes out here to two actors—Yami Gautam Dhar in the title-role as Mohini and Anurag Thakur as Bantu Awasthi. They have put it impeccable work, Yami also exhibiting her lesser-known skills at dancing in multiple styles, all in one song, Bhabhi tabaahi. Anurag is low-profile, immensely natural and his evolution from a vehement skeptic about Mohini to someone who is compelled to change his views about her is very organic.
The film begins with a wedding in the Awasthi clan of Meerut, when the sister-in-law, Mohini (Yami Gautam Dhar), has gone missing. The realization about where she has actually gone leads Bantu and Gaggu (Akshat Singh) to a conclusion: she is a daayan (witch), and therefore, his brother who is Mohini’s husband, Raja (Addinath M. Kothare) and the family must be warned about her true nature. In the best tradition of facts being twisted or interpreted to match fixed theories, Bantu reaches this conclusion.
But thereby hangs a mythological tale. Soon, it is revealed that Mohini isn’t just the orphaned (with four aunts!) executive who met and fell in love with colleague Raja (who reciprocated). There is much more. She talks about Kaalsheel, a super-powered diamond that once belonged to Mayasura, Raavan’s father-in-law in Tretayug. She explained how Raavan got the Kaalsheel by defeating Mayasura and marrying his daughter, Mandodari. Mohini says that the gem was later captured by Duryodhan in Dwaparyug and then went missing. The house the Awasthis live in as a joint family once belonged to Raavan’s father-in-law. As Raavan frequently possesses Raja now, her story gets confirmed. And a battle must ensue yet again between Ram and Raavan on Dusshera.
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Like the recent The Vvaan, made to cash in on the faith of audiences hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in the deity, Chhatti Maiya, this movie too is calculated to touch the sentiments of people during Navaratri. However, while that film was a mishmash of crime, drama, superstition and more, this one is a hodgepodge of the horror comedy (clear inspirations also are there from the Stree franchise), family drama, mythology and romance.
Addinath M. Kothare is sincere as Raja / Raavan, and it must have been tough to enact the prosthetic and make-up heavy demon. Sunita Rajwar, though underexploited talent-wise, is still good. Akshat Singh and Sonal Jha impress.
Technically average, the film has a pleasing music score by G.V. Prakash Kumar (Remember the small boy who sang Kuchi kuchi Rakamma in the 1995 film, Bombay’s song?). Not only is the score dominated by female voices (which are at a premium in today’s largely unmelodic era) but GVPK shows a welcome pan-Indian style like M.M. Keeravani and unlike the rest of his South counterparts. There is no Southern flavor here.
Shreya Ghoshal’s Awadhiya ka raja, Neeti Mohan’s Bhabhi tabaahi and Madhubanti’s Phataa patakhaa all score high and Vayu’s lyrics show a welcome grasp of both commercials and the songs’ situations. He shows his full range in the three songs and his supple and meaningful verse in the first is a revelation.
But Balaji Mohan’s direction is weak. Just like the film.
Rating: ** (Just About)
Colour Yellow Productions’ & Amazon MGM Studios’ Nayyi Navelli Produced by: Aanand L. Rai & Himanshu Sharma Directed by: Balaji Mohan Written by: Himanshu Sharma & Divy Nidhi Sharma Music: A.R. Rahman Starring: Yami Gautam Dhar, Addinath M. Kothare, Susmita Mukherjee, Sunil Sinha, Asitya Kulshrestha, Anurag Thakur, Akshat Singh, Sunita Rajwar, Mita Vashisht, Sonal Jha, Rajesh Dubeay, Beila Gupta, Dimpy Fadhya, Jyoti Shah, Geetanjali Kapoor & others
