Hindi
Children’s film festival begins 30 November
MUMBAI: Worldkids Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of ‘entertainment with a purpose‘, announced the launch of the “Kotak Worldkids International Film Festival.”
The festival to be held in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank, Godrej Interio, BPL Mobile, AIAI, Ryan International School, Adlabs, P9 Integrated and with support from Department of Culture – Government Of Maharashtra, Children‘s Film Society of India (CFSI) and Times Foundation, will showcase the best of International and National award winning Animation, Documentaries, Shorts and Feature Films at the week long festival.
Adlabs, Wadala will screen and host Mumbai‘s first-of-its kind children‘s film festival targeted at 8-18 year olds. World Kids Foundation will be promoting the festival while P9-Cinema Activation will be marketing the event.
Some of the multi-award winning films which will be showcased during the festival are Red like the Sky –Italy, Hayat-Iran, Heda Hoda– India, Magnifico – Phillipines, An Inconvenient Truth – USA, Charkh– Iran, Summer with the Ghosts – Canada, Pinky & Million Pug – Germany, Halo – India, Malli – India, Bonkers – Holland and Benji – USA.
Explaining the reason behind initiating such a move, Festival Director Manju Singh said, “Our endeavor is to engage the children of India with positive media images and inspire them into thinking and learning while having a good time Entertainment with a Purpose is the Foundations mantra.”
“Kotak Worlkids International Film Festival will provide a platform for young and talented directors to reach a wider audience at the festival, thus hoping to encourage the wider film fraternity into dabbling more in the production of films for children,” asserted Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, Advisory Board, WKIFF.
Commenting on the occasion, Rahul Sinha, Group Brand Head, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., said, “The idea of hosting this exclusive international film festival for children was first mooted with the Worldkids Foundation and I am delighted that this has come to fruition. It will be our endeavor to provide healthy and wholesome entertainment to children, help them enhance their knowledge, develop their character, broaden their perspective and help shape them into useful citizens of modern India.”
Talking about P9‘s participation to market the festival P9 Integrated CEO Navin Shah said, “Worldkids International Film Festival was more of an opportunity for us to be part of something that was not just huge by itself in its nature but also an opportunity for us to be providing a platform for the children of our nation. It is very crucial for us to imbibe good values and culture in our children and this festival promises to do the same.”
Commenting on the association with the WorldKids International Film Festival, BPL Mobile director and CEO S Subramaniam said, “We endeavour to contribute to the growth of the society in the best possible manner and hence we are privileged to be associated with this International Film Festival which proposes learning through entertainment to the children of today. This association will serve as a platform for us to help these children learn as they grow since we at BPL Mobile believe that it is the children of today who will take our country ahead in the future.”
Godrej Interio COO Anil Sain Godrej aid,” World Kids Festival is an opportunity for Godrej Interio (i-space) to interact with the children from these schools that will only help us as a company form a bigger and brighter relationship with each one of them.”
Adlabs Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra said, “Kids are a very important part of our audience and this festival is a great opportunity for us to entertain them and their families in a healthy and whole some way.”
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.
