“You need to create a parallel personality and wear it as your own skin”: Yami Gautam Dhar discusses her striking transformation in Amazon MGM Studios and Aanand L. Rai’s Nayyi Navelli
Welcome to the Awasthi parivaar; jahaan drama hai, masti hai aur sabse badhkar, ek daayan ka raaz hai! Amazon MGM Studios and Colour Yellow’s #NayyiNavelli takes a familiar Indian household and transforms their everyday life into something deliciously unexpected and fantastical, filled with larger-than-life characters, playful family banter, endless twists, and even a family pet along for the ride! Seamlessly blending family comedy, fantasy, mystery, and action, the film delivers maximum humour, heart, and non-stop surprises, offering a world that remains delightfully grounded in Indian family dynamics while guiding viewers into uncharted cinematic territory. With every new detail uncovering another layer of this eccentric household, Nayyi Navelli promises the perfect, larger-than-life big-screen adventure for a Dussehra outing with the entire family.
At the centre of it all is National Award winner Yami Gautam Dhar as Mohini, stepping into a completely unexpected avatar. From her striking look and body language to her comic beats and action, there’s a sense of surprise in everything she brings to the character. At an event, Yami spoke about preparing for the role and the process of creating Mohini as a completely new personality. She shared, “Har role apne saath ek naye challenges and demands lata hai. Whenever someone talks to me about preparation for a role, I go back to that memory, when you heard or read the role for the first time. Then you realise ki mazza toh bahut aa raha hai, but you also have to learn so many things: skills, action, body language. It’s like you need to create a parallel personality in front of you and then wear it as your own skin, be that person.”
She further added, “I am that kind of a student who always thinks ki tayyari mein kuch kami toh reh gayi. I truly believe that the more you read the script, the more you realise something new that can be added to your role or the storyline. It’s very important to understand the pulse of the movie. Mohini will not laugh in the same manner as my characters from other movies. I also try to add an extra element to all my characters, kuch naya, so that audiences ko dekhne mein bhi maza aaye.”
Director Balaji Mohan brings together the film’s many flavours with a distinctly Indian setting, while Aanand L. Rai’s Colour Yellow and Amazon MGM Studios come together to back a story that brings fantasy into a recognisable family world. Add G. V. Prakash Kumar’s vibrant music, including the high-energy ‘Bhabhi Tabahi’ and catchy theme track, and Nayyi Navelli becomes a celebration of mystery, action and emotion; all rolled into one big, unexpected family adventure!
Headlined by Yami Gautam Dhar, directed by Balaji Mohan and written by Himanshu Sharma and Divy Nidhi Sharma, the film also stars Addinath M Kothare, Anurag Thakur, Sunita Rajwar, Mita Vasisth, Aaditya Kulshreshth, Susmita Mukherjee and Prateek Pachori in pivotal roles. Produced by Aanand L. Rai and Himanshu Sharma, Nayyi Navelli is a G. V. Prakash Kumar musical, hitting cinemas this Dussehra on October 16!
By Keerti Kadam