Hindi
Third Haryana Intl Film Festival begins in Yamuna Nagar
YAMUNA NAGAR: The third Haryana International Film Festival, organised by the DAV College for Girls, has begun in Yamuna Nagar. The week-long festival was inaugurated today by Dadasaheb Phalke award winner and filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
In his address, he noted that women are now in every sphere of filmmaking including the technical side such as cinematography. “Women have to come forward if society has to progress,” he said.
The festival will be on till 7 October and it includes a Film Appreciation workshop.
Gopalakrishnan said that it was unfortunate that serious cinema was viewed as something not meant for everyone, particularly since it was this genre of cinema rather than the commercial cinema which was rooted in the reality of our culture and our lives.
But it was unfortunate that it was the commercial cinema that attracted the average audiences and was also lapped up by the television channels.
Serious cinema has to be enjoyed at a deep level as a cultural exposure, and was not something that one had to suffer. But serious cinema has to find ways to tell stories in unique fashion, though he said the experience of the audience will vary from person to person. This kind of cinema did not compromise since it was rooted in realty. Cinema helps you to “live the lives of others” and has a deep influence, he added.
This was not so with commercial films which evoked similar sentiments among all kinds of audiences.
For this reason, he lauded the organisers for the Film Appreciation Workshop being held along with the Festival.
Guest of Honour and renowned filmmaker K Bikram Singh said around 7.5 billion people went to theatres all through the year in India and this number went up manifold if one was to consider those who saw films on television. Despite this, it was regrettable that there were hardly any cinema studies or good research on meaningful and serious cinema.
For this reason, the Film Appreciation Workshop was very relevant and he was happy that around 250 students had signed up for the course.
He recalled his association with Gopalakrishnan which began when they traveled to the Berlin Film Festival in the late seventies.
Festival Director Ajit Rai said this festival had successfully proved that a good festival was possible even in a small town like Yamuna Nagar and was not the preserve of the metros. Small budget festivals had a charm of their own, he added.
He said cinema cannot change society directly, but does influence the people who then bring about changes in society. Commercial cinema was cut off from the reality of the people, and therefore the HIFF concentrated on the other cinema that was real and rooted in culture. “One has to be local to be global,” he added.
Dr Sushma Arya, principal of the DAV College for Girls, said organising a festival in a college was a real challenge without much assistance from the state, but she had found a lot of support from both the director and the various dignitaries who had agreed to come. The festival had broken the monopoly of the big cities and brought films to the place where ‘real India breathes’.
Earlier, the inauguration got off with the lighting of the auspicious lamp by the dignitaries. Also present on the occasion were filmmakers Sanjay Jha and Sharmila Maity.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s film Shadow Kill (Nizhalkuthu) was screened after the inaugural function.
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.
