Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale Documentary Review
Actor Nayanthara, the titular lead, is the strongest ingredient of this muddled recipe, with the creators insisting on labeling her as ‘lady superstar’ (twice, in big bold letters) at the beginning, as if calling her simply a superstar would be an affront to her male counterparts.
It was after watching the Tamil movie Annapoorani that I learned actor Nayanthara is known as the “lady superstar” down south. At first, you might think adding “lady” as a prefix to “superstar” sounds almost insulting, as if only men can hold the title. But on second thought, Tamil cinema is still a hyper-masculine market, where producers rely heavily on stars like Rajinikanth, Vijay, or Suriya to draw crowds. For female actors like Nayanthara to deliver commercial hits without playing second fiddle to the hero is a significant achievement. Netflix’s documentary Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale highlights her turbulent journey to success, which began with a phone call from a director who saw her photo in a magazine while she was still in college.
The documentary features footage from Nayanthara’s older films, interwoven with interviews from the actor herself, her director-husband Vignesh Shivan, and other Tamil industry figures, including Atlee, who directed the SRK-Nayanthara starrer Jawan. However, aside from exclusive footage of her glasshouse beach wedding, the documentary offers little that isn’t already in the public domain. Moreover, the agenda of Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale feels unclear. It begins with a seemingly staged scene where Nayanthara and her close circle panic over not getting clearances for her wedding at Tirupati, forcing them to find alternate venues just 10 days before the D-day.
If the rest of the documentary had focused on the chaos, stress, shopping, and celebrations surrounding her wedding, it could have been a fresh, fun docu-drama. Instead, after the wedding panic sequence, the first half shifts gears to explore Nayanthara’s early career and the struggles she faced as an outsider with no industry connections.
“A loud, overweight Nayanthara, whose rolls of fat appear to be doing a Mexican wave across her waist in a song sequence,” reads a scathing review, flashed in the documentary as a newspaper clipping. Nayanthara recalls being deeply hurt by the body-shaming she endured, particularly during her appearance in the blockbuster Ghajini (starring Suriya), which later inspired the Bollywood adaptation starring Aamir Khan.
The second half returns focus to Nayanthara’s romance with Vignesh Shivan, a director a year her junior. Their relationship quickly became meme material, with comments like “when the beast snags the beauty” circulating widely. However, if there’s one authentic aspect of Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale, it’s the easy-cute camaraderie between Nayanthara and Vignesh. “He’s so secure as a man that he just lets me be the way I want to be,” Nayanthara says with a beaming smile. And perhaps that’s the true secret of any successful relationship: giving your partner the freedom to be themselves.
Watch Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale on Netflix only if you’re a fan of the actor; otherwise, it feels more like a PR exercise with just one purpose – to celebrate the ‘lady superstar’.
Read Next: Meiyazhagan Review: An Introvert and Extrovert Walk into a Wedding…
Also Read: Nobody Wants This Review – The RomCom We Need (Short Audio Version below)
