Hindi
Chennai Express: This train can be boarded just once
MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan, most preferred in romantic films, of which he may have done only a few, is finding it hard to find a slot lately. He has tried his hand at multiple genres recently: Ra.One, a super hero film; Don 2, an action-for-action‘s-sake film; Jab Tak Hai Jaan, where he plays a larger than life bomb expert. Somehow, he does not seem to have found the right fit. Chennai Express is the outcome of this confusing situation as the film can’t define its genre even after it has run through 143 minutes. Is it a comedy, a road movie, an action movie or a romance? And is it a Hindi or a Tamil movie?
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Producers: Gauri Khan, Karim Morani, Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapoor. Director: Rohit Shetty. Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Nikitin Dheer, Sathyaraj, Manorama, Kamini Kaushal, Lekh Tandon. |
Shah Rukh Khan’s halwai grandfather has passed away and his last wish is that his grandson should immerse his ashes in the sea at Rameshwaram. However, Khan and his friends had plans to holiday in Goa. This assignment comes as a hurdle in their plans. However, Khan’s friends convince him that even if he immersed the ashes at Goa, they would finally end up reaching the sea at Rameshwaram! This is the first warning of what is to come. Since the grandmother plans to see off Khan at the station, he plans to take a south bound train, get off at the first station nearby and join his friends for a road trip to Goa.
Khan spots Deepika Padukone running to catch the train which has started moving and helps her in. He also helps four mean and scary looking guys board the running train. It turns out that Deepika, who is running away from her father who is in a village near Chennai, catches a train going towards her father. The four goons Khan helped board the train are her father’s henchmen, chasing her to take her back to her village. Her father, who is the local don, plans to marry her off to a strongman from another village, Nikitin Dheer against her wishes. That would help him extend his power further.
Deepika blames Khan for her problem. He decides to help her but his attempts are thwarted by the foursome. They are a dangerous lot which they demonstrate first by throwing away Khan’s costly cell phone from the train and later by throwing out the TC. Deepika and Khan communicate through Hindi film songs as if they are singing a duet; the goons couldn’t care less since the things are very much under their control.
Finally, they arrive at her village. But since it is not a scheduled stop, the goons pull the chain and out there, to welcome the boss’ daughter, is a crowd of hundreds. Khan could have continued with his journey but, for whatever reason, he also decides to tag along! Since Deepika does not want to marry Dheer, she introduces Khan as the guy she loves and plans to marry. The son-in-law to be is cheered by the villagers. But Dheer is not the kind to give in so easily. He challenges Khan to a fight the next morning. This is one giant problem for Khan for that is how Dheer compares to Khan in physique. The only way to survive is to escape.
Khan and Deepika plan to escape before the duel starts, but Khan spoils the plan by getting drunk. Still, he steals a bike and manages to get away, only to crash near a police station. The Sikh cop, Mukesh Trivedi, hides him in a safe place which, when he wakes up, turns out to be a smugglers’ dhow heading towards Sri Lanka. Soon the dhow is raided and Khan taken back to the village he had run from.
It is her wedding day when, once again, Khan and Deepika escape, this time to fall in love for real. Khan wants to take her honourably and comes back to her village, to the don, the mob and Dheer. In a sudden burst of enthusiasm he beats up all the goons, armed as well as unarmed and, finally, also takes on Dheer!
Chennai Express is a poor story idea badly developed. The script has no substance and a lot of footage is filled with nothing happening or, in second half, by crowding the footage with three songs almost back-to-back. Except at two or three places, the comedy is pathetic and the jokes are all decades-old PJs. The music score is generally no help and the only well tuned song isTitli… In fact, some songs sound like they have been dubbed from Tamil songs.
The Rohit Shetty touch is missing here; there is not much entertainment to be found, even of the mindless variety. Photography is good. Dialogue is uninspiring. A lot of Tamil is used in dialogue without sub titles which is very curious: there is not much to understand in this film but this shows a disregard for the audience. Editing is slack.
Deepika shines and is the only worthy performer in the film. Khan, sad to say, resorts to buffoonery when not overacting; his fans expect better. Dheer is aptly sinister.
Chennai Express may not generate good word of mouth but, thanks to the Eid weekend release at 3500 screens with multiplexes running 12 to 16 shows, it is sure to amass bumper weekend collections and help avoid a big setback.
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.
