Yami Gautam Dhar has expressed gratitude for the early audience response to Nayyi Navelli, the Balaji Mohan-directed fantasy drama that opened in cinemas on October 16, 2026. In a statement to bollywoodHungama.com, she said the film’s place in viewers’ Dussehra celebrations had made the release feel personal, adding that she felt “incredibly blessed” by the warmth.
A festival film built for family viewing
The film blends folklore, supernatural elements and dark humour. Yami plays Mohini, a newlywed stepping into a chaotic Meerut household where suspicion builds that she could be a daayan. That mix — a folk premise, a comic-creepy tone and a family setting — is aimed squarely at the festive week, when Hindi film audiences tend to go to the theatre in groups rather than alone.
Yami’s note frames the response in those terms. She said viewers had made Nayyi Navelli part of their Dussehra plans, and that seeing the film adopted into family celebrations “makes this Dussehra even more special.” The emphasis is less on a single statistic than on the film becoming part of a shared occasion.
- Directed by Balaji Mohan; released on October 16, 2026.
- Yami Gautam Dhar plays Mohini, a newlywed suspected of being a daayan in a Meerut household.
- The film’s folklore, supernatural and dark-humour blend is pitched at the festive family audience.
Why the festive framing matters
Festival weekends are contested territory in Hindi cinema. The audience is available, but so are family functions, puja and travel. A film that gets households to build an outing around it has cleared a different hurdle from the one an opening-day number captures. Yami’s statement is effectively an argument that Nayyi Navelli is being received in that way.
No box-office figures accompany the update, so the story for now is sentiment rather than collections. The next checkpoint is whether trade reports convert that gratitude into concrete numbers over the holiday period. If the film continues to be selected as a family watch through the festival window, its real signal will be repeat viewings and word of mouth rather than a single-day flash.
For audiences, that makes the coming days the most relevant test. A festive release earns its place not only at the ticket window but in the rituals people repeat, and Yami’s thanks amount to an invitation to treat the film as part of the celebration.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
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