Nayyi Navelli: Story, Cast, Release and Reviews of Yami Gautam's Film

Nayyi Navelli is in cinemas from today, Friday 16 October 2026. It is a Hindi fantasy comedy with Yami Gautam Dhar as Mohini, a new bride whose brother-in-law is convinced she is a daayan (witch). Tamil director Balaji Mohan makes his Hindi debut with it, and Aanand L Rai and Himanshu Sharma produce for Colour Yellow with Amazon MGM Studios. It opens on the same day as Rajkummar Rao's Prahaar. Here is the story, cast, first reviews and where the box office stands on day one.

Nayyi Navelli quick facts

• Genre: Supernatural / fantasy family comedy (the makers call it a "fantasy family entertainer")
• Release: 16 October 2026, in cinemas, timed for the Dussehra weekend
• Director: Balaji Mohan (Maari, Maari 2)
• Producers: Aanand L Rai and Himanshu Sharma; Colour Yellow and Amazon MGM Studios
• Writers: Himanshu Sharma and Divy Nidhi Sharma (also spelled Divya Nidhi Sharma)
• Music: G.V. Prakash Kumar
• Runtime: About 2 hours 18 minutes, according to reviews
• Certificate: Not stated in the reviews or announcements we could check
• Language: Hindi

The spelling trips people up. The official title has a double "y" and a double "l": Nayyi Navelli. Some sites write it as Nayi Naveli, and there is an older, unrelated title spelled Nai Naveli in film databases. They are not the same film.

What is Nayyi Navelli about? (no spoilers)

Mohini marries Raja Awasthi and moves into his large, noisy joint family in Meerut. She cooks, settles the squabbles and quickly wins everyone over. Only Raja's brother, Bantu, isn't buying it. He becomes sure that his perfect new bhabhi is a witch, and the family laughs off his theory. The posters leaned into this with the hashtag #BhabhiDaayanHai.

Reviews say the film starts as a family comedy and turns into something bigger after an interval twist, with a mythological angle linked to the Ramayana taking over the second half. That turn is where most critics split, as you'll see below.

Nayyi Navelli cast and characters

The actor playing Bantu is Anurag Thakur, not the politician of the same name. Adinath Kothare is best known in Marathi cinema. Spellings vary between sources ("Addinath", "Pachauri", "Vasisht").

Trailer and songs

A teaser came out in September, and the trailer followed at the end of the month. Reports give either 30 September or 1 October. The first song was "Bhabhi Tabaahi", and "Phata Patakha" is the other track reviewers mention. G.V. Prakash Kumar's background score gets kinder notices than the songs, which several reviews say are badly placed.

First reviews: a fun first half, then the mythology takes over

Reviews came out on release day, and most of them land at 2 to 2.5 stars:

• Bollywood Hungama (2/5): an "interesting premise" let down by weak, dry writing. It calls Yami's restrained performance the film's main strength and likes the interval twist.
• India TV (2/5): the family comedy works but the supernatural track doesn't, and Anurag Thakur steals the show. It finds Yami's role underwritten and some of the VFX artificial.
• FPJ (2/5): a below-average watch. It says the Ramayana angle doesn't engage and the comedy rarely lands, but it praises Adinath Kothare.
• Filmibeat (2.5/5): "strictly average", with an entertaining first half and an underwhelming second half.
• India.com (4.5/5): the outlier. It praises Yami, the ensemble, the earthy humour and the mythology references, and says only that the film could be crisper.

The common thread: Anurag Thakur and Adinath Kothare come off best, the first half is the stronger one, and the shift into mythology after the interval doesn't work for most critics. Opinion on Yami herself is divided. Some call her the anchor of the film, others say the role gives her little to do.

Box office: advance booking only, so far

At the time of writing, no opening-day collection has been reported by the trade. What exists are tracker numbers from before release:

• Advance booking (Sacnilk): about ₹1.39 crore gross for day one, from roughly 3,100 shows, as of 2 a.m. on release day. About ₹47 lakh of that excludes block seats. That is one tracker's live snapshot, and it will move.
• Projection: Koimoi expected the film to open above Yami's last release Haq, but probably outside her ten biggest openers.

We'll treat day-one numbers as real only once at least two trade sources report them.

The Prahaar clash, and a crowded Dussehra weekend

Nayyi Navelli shares its Friday with Prahaar, Rajkummar Rao's courtroom drama about prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and the 26/11 trial. The two films could hardly be more different: a family fantasy comedy against a serious true-story drama. Our Prahaar cast, story and reviews post covers that one, and its reviews are also mixed.

Both films also have to fight holdovers. Rajinikanth's Jailer 2 opened a day earlier, and Ajay Devgn's Drishyam: The Conclusion is still running. Our Jailer 2 vs Drishyam 3 box office report has the numbers.

Yami Gautam's other films

This is Yami's first lead role since Haq (2025), the courtroom drama in which she played Shazia Bano. Her best-known films include Vicky Donor (2012), Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), Bala (2019) and Article 370 (2024). Earlier this year she had a short cameo as a nurse, again named Shazia Bano, in her husband Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar: The Revenge. It is streaming on NoWireTV. On the producer side, Aanand L Rai most recently directed Tere Ishk Mein.

If you'd rather stay in this weekend, Hindi movie channels Star Gold HD, Sony Max HD and Colors Cineplex HD are streaming live on NoWireTV.

Read next

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