Nayyi Navelli Is Yami Gautam's Third-Biggest Film Since the Pandemic, and It Still Lost Money

Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nayyi Navelli is one of those films where every number looks fine on its own and bad in context. It opened on October 16 to about Rs 3.25 crore net, crept past Rs 22 crore in India by the end of the first week, and has become Yami Gautam's third-highest grosser since the pandemic. Then the second Friday happened and it took around Rs 60 lakh across more than 1,200 shows. That is the sound of a film running out of road.

The reviews were the problem from day one. It is a fantasy family comedy about a bride with a secret, and most critics found it neither funny nor magical enough. Audiences were kinder on social media, which is why week one held up, but once the holiday crowd thinned the drop was steep. The budget is somewhere between Rs 30 and Rs 50 crore depending on who you ask, and either way the theatrical run is not going to get there.

I like Yami Gautam a lot and she has had a good run of smart choices, so this feels like a misfire rather than a trend. The film will probably do decent business on streaming, where the family audience is forgiving. Did you see it in cinemas, and was it as flat as the reviews said?