Yami Gautam’s Nayyi Navelli opens today, Friday, October 16, in a Dussehra slot that’s suddenly feeling less crowded than expected. The horror comedy, directed by Balaji Mohan and co-starring Adinath Kothare, Mita Vashisht, and Sonal Jha, is aiming for a modest start — but not a breakthrough. Industry estimates from two sources place its opening day collection between ₹2.5 crore and ₹3.5 crore. That’s a far cry from the ₹10.26 crore opener of OMG 2, which it’s being compared to despite having no direct connection beyond genre and release timing. The gap isn’t just about numbers. It’s about momentum. Yami’s last film, Haq, was a quiet, intense drama that earned her national acclaim. Now she’s stepping into a role that demands physicality, spontaneity, and dance, something she says she embraced with joy. 'Mohini brought out a much more carefree, uninhibited side of me,' she told Filmibeat. The trailer did generate buzz, but not enough to shift expectations. One reason? Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 didn’t open in PVR, INOX, or Cinepolis. The top three multiplex chains. That meant fewer big-city screens were taken up by a pan-India juggernaut, leaving room for smaller films like Nayyi Navelli. But even that advantage might not be enough. The film’s genre, horror comedy. Is tough to crack without a strong hook. And while G.V. Prakash Kumar’s music and Vijay Ganguly’s choreography are praised behind the scenes, audiences haven’t seen them yet. So the real test begins now. Will the fun carry through? Or will the numbers stay stuck in the low teens? The first reviews are due later today. We’ll know soon.