Hindi
Commando 2: The Black Money Trail…On a cold trail!
MUMBAI: Vidyut Jammwal is India’s answer to Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone and his Rambo series which started in 1982 withFirst Blood. Jammwal made his debut in Hindi films with Force (2011). Since then, he has done half a dozen action Hindi films, a genre he is comfortable with.
When a film is made around the protagonist’s specialty rather than a theme, one tends to stitch a story around him. And if your hero happens to be one without mass following, it is tough to get a decent opening. Jammwal has yet to arrive or make an image for himself.
Commando 2 is a sequel, in the Hindi filmmaking parlance. The first one was no commercial trailblazer so the idea was to use the title and give an identity to Jammwal. An accomplished action actor demonstrates his abilities in his first film and so making a mark in the sequel becomes difficult.
There are some high profile tycoons, represented by Satish Kaushik, who have stashed their monies in foreign banks. The monies are routed through one Vicky Chaddha. A new regime runs the government now and it wants to live up to its promise of bringing all this money back and into the accounts of poor farmers – déjà vu?
A team is formed which includes Jammwal, Freddy Daruwala, Adah Sharma and Sumit Gulati, the last being a computer wizard. They are supposed to trace Vicky and bring him back to India so that all the data is made available to the government.
There are some twists and turns as Suhail Nayyar, the son of a minister, Shefali Shah, is also involved in stashing money abroad. The other twist is about the real identity of Vicky Chaddha. As expected, the film starts with establishing the specialties of Jammwal as he tackles a building full of armed men protecting the person who knows the real Vicky and he can be found.
All this keeps the film reasonably interesting till the interval. The second half tries to cram in too much along with a lot of computer mumbo jumbo which fails to take the audience along. And once the real Vicky is in sight, it is more like a game of chor-police and outsmarting each other.
The script is convoluted and the viewer is supposed to accept many things sans logic. Direction by Deven Bhojani, who has earlier directed TV serials, is fairly good. Cinematography captures the scenic outdoors of Bangkok as well as the action sequences ably giving the film a certain finesse. The song and dance routine is wisely avoided in this film. Action is good though stretched a couple of times. Editing is average as a further 10 to 12 minutes could easily have been chopped off.
Vidyut Jammwal excels in action sequences as expected. Adah is passable, her street brand dialogue delivery is tough to catch. Esha Gupta lives up to her role very well. Satish Kaushik, Shefali Shah, Adil Hussain, Suhail Nayyar, Sumit Gulati and Anjum Rajabali are okay in support.
Commando 2: The Black Money Trail is the kind of film meant for B List multiplexes and single screens.
Producer: Vipul Amritlal Shah.
Director: Deven Bhojani
Cast: Vidyut Jamwal, Adah Sharma, Freddy Daruwala, Suhail Nayyar, Thakur Anoop Singh, Shefali Shah, Adil Hussain
Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai………..a lesson in suffering a movie!
Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai comes across as a kind of biography but one does not know whose! Probably it is somebody known to the makers. But as it turns out, the film is an adaptation of the book My Little Heaven, written by the film’s producer, Purnima Mead. The story tries to blend the primitive (as in 1960s and 70s) with the contemporary. It is about wealthy vs literate, but does not commit to the era it belongs to. There are no cellphones nor computers.
Manjari Fadnis belongs to a Christian family somewhere In Rajasthan. Her father and mother think a daughter is a burden and treat her badly, more like a servant deprived of even basics even as the two sons get the best of everything.
Though Manjari is a bright student and tops her class, she is shifted to a government school to save money. Now in college, Manjari is sent to interview the college trustee, Ashutosh Rana, by her principal, Raju Kher. Rana, a local royalty, is a cruel man and his life is all about wine and women. Provoked by Manjari’s questions and confidence, he is later attracted to her. He in effect buys her from her father to make her his wife.
Despite being in love with a fellow student Himansh Kohli, Manjari has no alternative but to marry Rana. Her ordeal starts soon thereafter. She is barred from stepping out of the palace apart from other restrictions. Manjari has but one sympathizer in Supriya Pathak, the palace help.
Rana asks the doctor to abort the child if it happens to be a girl when Manjari is pregnant, much to her horror. Pathak gives her support and encourages her to flee.
Having gone through the depressing part of the film, everything turns positive for Manjari. She arrives in Mumbai and finds everything on a platter. A place to stay where even her daughter is looked after, a job in an Urdu newspaper, and a new wooer in Arbaaz Khan, an NRI who visits Mumbai every year to make his contributions to the orphanage where Manajri has found shelter as a help.
Having found a job with an Urdu paper run by Prem Chopra, Manjari is suddenly invited to the US to join a major daily newspaper. It seems Chopra forwarded some of her writings to a contact in the US and they were impressed with her writings! She joins the publication and takes up an assignment nobody else wanted. She writes a book and becomes a celebrity! She accepts Arbaaz’s love and all is well that ends well.
Nothing to mention about technical aspects or performances needed.
That is for the film and its story, not so for the viewer. For Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai is a 171 minutes of sheer torture.
Producers: Purnima Mead, Stanton Mead.
Director: Keshhav Panneriy.
Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Manjari Fadnis, Ashutosh Rana, Himansh Kohli, Supriya Pathak, Prem Chopra, Rati Agnihotri.
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.
