Hindi
New categories in NFA awards for 2009
NEW DELHI: The presentation of the 57th National Film Awards for 2009 tomorrow by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will also demonstrate the acceptance of the need to upgrade the awards with she gives away five new technical category awards.
The nation’s highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, will also be presented to veteran producer-director D Rama Naidu, at the function being held as in previous years in the plenary hall of Vigyan Bhavan. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will also be present on the occasion.
With this, the backlog in presentation of National Film Awards which had got delayed because of a legal case some years earlier has been wiped. While the awards for 2008 were given in February, those for 2009 are being presented now.
The technical awards have been instituted following the recommendations of the Expert Committee set up under veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal and other eminent film personalities and experts.
In audiography, two awards have been added: Location Sound Recordist, and Sound Designer. In music direction, an award for background Score has been introduced in addition to an existing award for Best Music Direction (Songs). In the category of best screenplay, three Awards have been instituted in place of the current award – for Adapted Screenplay, for Original Screenplay, and for Dialogues. Each of these awards carry a cash prize of Rs.50,000 each.
The cash prize for several awards in both feature films and non-feature films categories have been increased from the previous years. The Special Jury Award for Feature Films has been raised from Rs.1,25,000 to Rs.200,000.
The National Film Awards have been announced in three categories: Best Feature Film Category under the Chairpersonship of Ramesh Sippy; Non Feature Film Category under the Chairpersonship of Mike Pandey; and Best Writing on Cinema under the Chairpersonship of Samik Bandhopadhyay.
In the feature film category, the selection process for selecting the films returned to a two-tier system of selection. There were Regional Panels were constituted for pre-selection of films in different language categories: North- English, Punjabi, Dogri, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani and Central Indian Languages; West- Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Konkani; South I- Tamil and Malayalam and South II – Kannada, Telugu and Tulu; East- Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and dialects spoken in Northeast
Each Regional Panel comprised of a Chairperson and one member (both of whom would be from outside the region) and three other members from with the region. The screenings of the Regional panel as well as the Central jury were held in Delhi. The Central jury comprised of a Chairperson plus ten Members, of whom five were the Chairpersons of the five regional juries. The Chairperson for the Northern Region was Ms. Sushma Seth, for the Western Region M S Sathyu, for South – I Region T S Nagabharna, for South- II Region Pinaki Choudhry; and for the Eastern Region B Lenin.
Dr Ramanaidu is the forty-first recipient of the award instituted in 1969 – the birth centenary of D G Phalke, who is generally regarded as the father of Indian cinema as he produced the country’s first indigenous award ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913. Dr Ramanidu is the tenth producer to have received the award.
The award consists of a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs one million and a shawl. The award is given on the basis of recommendations of a Committee of eminent persons.
In a music industry that often rewards speed, spectacle, and instant recall, Navjot Ahuja’s journey feels refreshingly different. His story is not built on noise. It is built on patience, discipline, emotional honesty, and a quiet commitment to becoming better with every passing year. After 14 years of struggle, learning, performing, and writing, Navjot stands today as an artist whose success has not changed his centre. If anything, it has only made his purpose clearer.
For Navjot, music has never been about chasing fame alone. It has always been about expression. It is about writing more truthfully, singing more skillfully, understanding himself more deeply, and becoming a kinder human being in the process. That rare clarity is what gives his journey its beauty.
Where It All Began: A Writer Before a Singer
Indian singer and songwriter Navjot Ahuja’s musical journey began in the most familiar of places: school assemblies. But even then, what was growing inside him was not only the desire to sing. It was the need to write.
Long before he saw himself as a performer, he had already discovered the emotional release that writing offered him. For Navjot, words became the first true channel for feeling. Songwriting came before singing because writing was the only way he could let emotions flow through him fully. That inner pull shaped his artistic identity early on.
Like many young musicians, he sharpened his craft by creating renditions of popular songs.
Those experiments became his training ground. But the turning point came in 2012, when he wrote his first original song. That moment did not just mark the beginning of songwriting. It marked the beginning of self-definition.
A Calling He Did Not Chase, But Accepted
What makes the latest Indian singer-songwriter Navjot’s story especially compelling is the way he describes his relationship with music. He does not frame it as a career he aggressively pursued. In his own understanding, music was not something he chose. It was something that chose him.
There was a time when he imagined a very different future for himself. He wanted to become a successful engineer, like many young people shaped by ambition and conventional expectations. But life had a different script waiting for him. During his college years, around 2021, music entered his life professionally and began taking a firmer shape.
That shift was not driven by image-building or industry ambition. It came from acceptance. Navjot embraced the fact that music had claimed him in a way no other path could. That sense of surrender continues to define the artist he is today.
An Artist Guided by Instinct, Not Influence
Unlike many singers who speak openly about idols, icons, and musical role models, Navjot’s creative world is built differently. He does not believe his music comes from imitation or inherited influence. He listens inward.
He has never considered himself shaped by ideals in the traditional sense. In fact, he admits that he does not particularly enjoy listening to songs, especially his own. His decisions as a songwriter and singer come from instinct. He writes what feels right. He trusts what his inner voice tells him. He positions his music according to what he honestly believes in, not what trends demand.
That creative independence gives his work a distinct emotional sincerity. His songs do not feel calculated. They feel alive.
The Long Years of Invisible Struggle
Every artist carries a chapter of struggle, and Navjot’s was long, demanding, and deeply formative. One of the biggest challenges he faced was building continuity as the best new indian singer songwriter in an era where musical collaboration is increasingly fluid.
For emerging singers, especially those trying to build with a band, consistency can be difficult. Instrumentalists today have more opportunities than ever to freelance and perform with multiple artists. While that growth is positive and well deserved, it can make things harder for singers who are still trying to establish a steady team and sound around their work.
For Navjot, one of the most difficult phases came during 2021 and 2022, when he was doing club shows almost every day. It was a period of relentless performance, but not always personal fulfillment. He was largely singing covers because clubs were not open to original songs that audiences did not yet know.
For a new Indian singer and songwriter, that can be a painful compromise. To perform constantly and still not have the freedom to share your own voice requires not just resilience, but restraint.
“Khat” and the Grace of Staying Unchanged
After 14 years of effort, Navjot’s new love song Khat became a defining milestone. Professionally, he acknowledges that the song changed how society viewed him as a musician. It strengthened his place in the public eye and altered his standing in meaningful ways.
Yet personally, he remains unchanged.
That is perhaps the most striking part of his story. Navjot says his routine is still the same. His calm is still the same. His writing process is still the same. He does not want success or failure to interfere with the purity of his art. For him, emotional detachment from public outcomes is essential because the moment an artist becomes too attached to validation, the writing begins to shift.
His joy comes not from numbers, but from the attempt. If he has tried to improve his skill today, if he has written his heart out more honestly than before, then he is at peace.
Growth, Not Glory, Remains the Real Goal
Even now, Navjot is not consumed by labels such as singles artist, performer, or digital success story. His focus remains deeply personal. He wants to sing better. He wants to play instruments better. He wants to understand himself more. And he wants to become a kinder person.
That is what makes Navjot Ahuja’s journey so moving. It is not simply the story of a musician finding recognition. It is the story of an artist who continues to grow inward, even as the world begins to look outward at him. In an age obsessed with applause, Navjot reminds us that the most meaningful success often begins in silence, honesty, and the courage to remain true to oneself.
