Filmmaker-producer Aanand L Rai says his next release, Nayyi Navelli, is designed to work as more than a comedy-horror. In an interview with ETV Bharat, he argued that the humour sits on top of a social question about how outspoken women are labelled.
The Hindi film stars Yami Gautam in the lead role. It is written by Himanshu Sharma and Divy Nidhi Sharma, and directed by Tamil filmmaker Balaji Mohan, who makes his Bollywood directorial debut with the project. Rai and Sharma are producing under Colour Yellow Productions, in association with Amazon MGM Studios.
The larger thought behind the comedy
Rai said audiences often focus on the surface meaning of a story, but a writer’s intention can be deeper. He added that in his long collaboration with Himanshu Sharma, humour is rarely used just to make people laugh. There is usually “a larger thought” beneath the comedy.
That is why, according to Rai, the word “dayan” in Nayyi Navelli is not included simply as a word. He suggested that once audiences watch the film, they will understand the social meaning behind several elements. Entertainment remains important, he said, but the story should also leave people thinking.
Why a Tamil director for a Hindi film
Rai has collaborated before with artists from the South, including Dhanush and R Madhavan, and has worked with A R Rahman. He said it bothers him that the Indian film industry is divided into labels such as North Indian, South Indian, Bollywood and Tollywood.
“We are all Indians,” he said, and argued that emotions and cultural values are shared across regions. Stories from the South, he added, often take audiences into completely different worlds. When Sharma and Divy Nidhi Sharma were developing the screenplay, Rai said the team felt Balaji Mohan was the right person to bring the story’s nuances to the screen.
Strong women drawn from life
Rai said the strong female characters in his films grow out of the women around him and Sharma: mothers, wives and others who offered support and perspective. He told Yami Gautam that she is “an excellent student and a formidable fighter,” someone from whom he felt inspired to learn.
- Film: Nayyi Navelli
- Genre: Hindi comedy-horror
- Lead: Yami Gautam
- Writers: Himanshu Sharma and Divy Nidhi Sharma
- Director: Balaji Mohan, making his Bollywood debut
- Production: Colour Yellow Productions, with Amazon MGM Studios
What the audience should watch for
Rai declined to predict the box office, saying the audience ultimately decides a film’s fate. He hopes viewers appreciate the story, performances and entertainment. For Hindi cinema followers, the test is whether Nayyi Navelli can deliver genre fun while making its social point felt—without turning the comedy into a lecture.
That is the larger promise of the film: a supernatural label examined through the lens of family, gender and regional collaboration, with a filmmaker known for Tanu Weds Manu, Raanjhanaa and Atrangi Re behind it.
Source: ETV Bharat National
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