Nayyi Navelli

I am not sure what kind of movie Nayyi Navelli wants to be, but it’s definitely not a good one. It’s as though certain projects are commissioned to embed a sentiment and not as a product of organic, artistic productivity. There’s nothing remotely fun about this half-hearted mumbo jumbo, oscillating between a sitcom’s cancelled pilot episode, woke public service announcement and Avengers-ripped off Ram vs Raavan conflict. Known for his work in Tamil films like Maari, Director Balaji Mohan makes a forgettable Hindi film debut over a story penned by Himanshu Sharma (continuing his downward streak after Raksha Bandhan and Tere Ishq Mein) while Divy Nidhi Sharma pitches in the dialogues and screenplay. Only Nayyi Navelli’s over-the-top mix of mythological, horror and social commentary struggles to find its bearings in a haphazardly imagined scenario. Before it collapses into a full-fledged fiasco, Nayyi Navelli starts out in a stereotypical shaadi environment of Meerut acquainting us with as many quirky members of the Awasthi family as possible.

Desperate as hell to look and sound like a film that is serving up a fresh-off-the-oven concoction, Nayyi Navelli, scripted by Divy Nidhi Sharma from a story by Himanshu Sharma, goes overboard with a palette of garish colours and a cast of actors of proven quality bent upon out-hamming each other. The result is a film that neither looks pretty nor sounds right. Talk overshadows action and logic gets drowned out in the confusing din of clashing decibel levels.