| Director: | Amith Krishnan |
| Starring: | Nayanthara |
| Editing: | Amith Krishnan Pradeep E. Ragav |
| Music: | Prashanth Techno |
| Studio: | Tarc Studio LLP |
| Distributor: | Netflix |
| Runtime: | 82 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | English Tamil Malayalam |
Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale is a 2024 documentary film about the early years of Indian actress Nayanthara and the struggles that followed by along her career to eventually become one of the biggest actresses in India.[1] The film was produced and distributed by Netflix and directed by Amith Krishnan.[2] [3]
Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale was released on November 18, 2024 coinciding with Nayanthara's 40th birthday.[4]
The film describes the life of Nayanthara from her point of view starting with her family background from her birth city Thiruvalla and her early years and introduction into the Indian film industry and later setbacks with the industry and personal relationships and then eventually her married life and motherhood. It includes lots of archival footage including her movie scenes, childhood images, social media videos etc.
On 9 November 2024, Netflix India unveiled the official trailer of the documentary on YouTube which also included segment regarding a montage of Nayanthara's on-screen appearances.[5] [6] The documentary also predominantly had glimpses from the wedding ceremony of Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan, which was attended by prominent celebrities including Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan and Mani Ratnam.
On 16 November 2024, Nayanthara penned a letter and published a cryptic Instagram post addressing actor Dhanush, where Nayanthara accused Dhanush of intentionally holding onto personal grudges and vengeance over the romantic relationship that unfolded between her and Vignesh Shivan during the shooting of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, a film which was produced by Dhanush under his production company Wunderbar Films.[7] [8]
Nayanthara insisted that Dhanush had sent her a legal notice asking for a compensation of 10 crores for a 3-second video that was used in the documentary which were deemed as the behind-the-scenes recordings from the movie sets of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.[9] Nayanthara in her letter revealed that she apparently waited for nearly two years to claim the copyrighted material under the policy of a no objection certificate from her producer Dhanush in order to freely use it for her documentary.[10] She revealed that the filmmakers had apparently re-edited and trimmed the documentary while removing the 3-second video sequence which had been shot from the shooting spots of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan as Dhanush did not grant permission for the usage of songs or visual cuts which featured in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.[11]
The film overall received negative reviews from critics and audience.[12] [13]
On NDTV Movies the film has a rating of 3 out of 5. The site's consensus states: "This self-produced Netflix documentary seeks to capture the rise and rise of Nayanthara in the face of several reverses. It isn't an objective account but, notwithstanding the limitations of its format, Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale is entertaining and insightful."[14] On The Hindu it stated, "With Netflix’s Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale, Nayanthara takes an assured, dignified step towards letting us in on the life she had led and how it all culminated in her marriage to director-producer-lyricist Vignesh Shivan, the ying to her yang. In a truly fantastic fashion, this is also Nayanthara baring her soul to ask a simple question: what is wrong about a woman searching for true love, if that love is her meaning to all?"[15]
Abhinav Subramanian from Times Of India gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and stated, "Beyond the Fairy Tale is a pleasant look at Nayanthara’s success and her marriage to Vignesh Shivan, but it’s way too controlled to be a true peek into her life. There’s not much that we don’t know already."[16]