Review: Not quite the 'Nayaki' one would expect

The Telugu version of the biliungual, Nayaki, was released a couple of months ago. Without any freshness or novelty in scripting or narrative style, the film joins the growing list of horror-comedies trying in vain to cash in on the trend.

The Telugu version of the biliungual, Nayaki, was released a couple of months ago. Without any freshness or novelty in scripting or narrative style, the film joins the growing list of horror-comedies trying in vain to cash in on the trend.

The characters are superficially etched and situations shuttle between the serious and the slapstick. The film does start promisingly, the early moments offering some interesting moments. It opens with a news report about males gone missing after a visit to a mansion in Nandhivaram and the police remaining clueless.

It zeroes in on the mansion where Trisha, playing ‘Nayaki’ Gayathri, is shown dressing up the traditional way, waiting for someone. On another track is Sanjay, a short film maker who specialses on horror films, going on about how adept he is at dealing with ghosts and evil spirits, with a false bravado. A philanderer, Sanjay is all set to take his trusting girlfriend Sandhya to a farm house and seduce her. Deliberately misled by a stranger with whom he had misbehaved, the duo reaches the haunted mansion where Sanjay is to learn the lesson of his life.

The mansion, with its exotic interior and old world charm, presents an ideal setting for the events to follow. But the content fails to match the elaborately designed backdrop. For, the games ‘Nayaki’ is shown to play with the petrified duo are unimaginative and juvenile. What sustains momentum here is the performance of Sathyam Rajesh as Sanjay (from the Telugu screen) who with his perfect comic timing and mercurial expressions brings in some laughs. Sushma Raj as the innocent Sandhya plays the ideal foil. That the ghost can be seen only when viewed through a camera is a fine touch. For, Gayathri had been an aspiring actress whose desire to face the camera had gone unfulfilled.

Trisha as the ‘Nayaki’ is not quite able to pull off the role. One of the reasons is the superficial etching of her character which fails to connect emotionally.

Also, there is not much differentiation between the ‘retro’ look and the present day one. The second half slips into mediocrity. The flashback into Gayathri’s past is predictable, long and dreary. Ganesh Venkatraman and Jayaprakash fit adequately in their roles.

Senrayan’s entry as Sanjay’s friend peps up the narration to an extent. The climax is unintentionally funny. Trisha has rendered the title song but it comes at the end when the credits roll and most of the audience has made its way out. ‘Nayaki’ seems a tedious endless journey.

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