Nayanthara Beyond The Fairy Tale Documentary Review | Suchin Mehrotra | THR India

Suchin Mehrotra reviews "Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale," Netflix India's latest documentary from director Amith Krishnan that attempts to chronicle the journey of South India's Lady Superstar. This 82-minute narrative tries to balance multiple aspects - her rise to superstardom, her personal struggles, and her fairy tale romance with filmmaker Vignesh Shivan.

The film follows Nayanthara's evolution from Diana Kurien, a small-town girl from Thiruvalla, to becoming one of Indian cinema's biggest female stars with a career spanning two decades and 80 films. Suchin Mehrotra examines how the documentary, while beautifully shot, fails to dig deeper into her meteoric rise and glass-ceiling-shattering achievements, instead offering a carefully curated version of her story.

With appearances from industry stalwarts like Nagarjuna, Vijay Sethupathi, Mani Ratnam, and Shah Rukh Khan, and intimate footage of her 2022 wedding, "Beyond the Fairy Tale" marks Nayanthara's first major collaboration with Netflix. Suchin Mehrotra discusses how the documentary, produced by the actress's own Rowdy Pictures, transforms from a bland career chronicle into an affecting love story, yet ultimately fails to do justice to one of Indian cinema's most compelling success stories.