Hindi
Desi Kattey …..Make in India!
MUMBAI: Desi Kattey is yet another film with local Uttar Pradesh flavour with which rest of the country does not usually identify. Again, the film makes one think that UP is the biggest small-scale industry for manufacturing what is locally referred to as ‘kattey’, or a crudely made single-shot gun. The theme is familiar from several other films seen over the decades. But, in an effort to be different, the makers open many tracks and lose the plot.
In the city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, two young lads who should be playing with slingshots wield kattas instead. They think nothing of using a katta, for they are full of anger with the society and their hunger. Such boys need more than a katta and bullets; they need political support to strengthen their standing while politicians need such boys to do their dirty work. Both complement each other. Ashutosh Rana is the local bahubali aka heavyweight referred to by his followers as Judge. The boys worship him and dream of reaching his position someday.
The boys, Jay Bhanushali and Akhil Kapur, have grown up to be expert shooters and eventually graduate to joining Rana’s unit; Rana is due to fight an election soon. As in all such cliques, there are a few who are envious of these new boys’ sudden rise. Rana wins the election but a situation is created whereby they can’t meet him.
This is most how UP-Bihar katta stories go, but here the makers want to not only continue with the great friendship saga while trying to extract emotional and melodramatic scenes from non-performers, but also give a purpose to the film by channelling their talent with guns to get them glory of the legit kind.
Suniel Shetty, a disgraced army major, spots the talent of Jay and Akhil and decides that instead of wasting it on killing people, they could be trained professionals and win shooting contests instead. Even as the two are being trained, they come across Rana again who beckons them to return to the fold. Time for a dramatic moment as it is also the time for an interval. Akhil decides to go back with Rana while Jay, who has also found his lady love in Shetty’s sister, Sasha Agha, does not.
The first half was tolerable purely due to force of habit having done so often enough. But the pace drops in the second half. Post interval, as Jay works on his shooting practice, Akhil perfects his shooting on Rana’s rivals. In between, having no enemies of his own to kill, Rana turns Akhil to social service asking him to wipe out all the evil-doers, including a land-mafioso, a pimp, a drug peddler and so on! What was this diversion for from the film’s routine?
The separated friends pine for each other and sob all the time which creates unintended comedy. And, to think that both have found their lady love. Akhil’s being Tia Bajpai who, in another clichéd moment, is killed just when she announces her pregnancy.
Desi Kattey is a badly scripted film trying to cram in too much and stretching itself to about 2.45 hours with a weak face value and limited talent. Direction below par and, again, clichéd. Musical score by Kailash Kher is the plus in this film with hummable tracks. Other aspects are routine. Of the two boys, Jay does better while Akhil just passes muster. Girls make little impression. Shetty is okay. Rana is fairly good.
Poor at box office.
Producer: Anand Kumar.
Director: Anand Kumar.
Cast: Suniel Shetty, Jay Bhanushali, Akhil Kapur, Tia Bajpai, Sasha Agha, Ashutosh Rana, Murli Sharma.
3 A.M. … Not worth staying up for
Horror genre being economical and can even work with new faces mainly on the strength of content and technology, it has been catching up in Hindi industry. As for content, there are a lot of ‘inspirations’ all around the world cinema. And, so are film titles can be sourced from other industries; this one for instance, comes from a Thailand film, 3 A.M.
Rannvijay Singh along with his girlfriend, Anindita Nayar and friends, Kavin Dave and Sahil Acharya are on a night out celebrating. Rannvijay proposes to Anindita. That done, Anindita, a journalist, moves on to research on her article on haunted places of Mumbai.
Rannvijay is fast asleep when he hears a woman’s wail and wakes up. It is 3am. He sees his girlfriend sitting in a dark corner sobbing. Rannvijay tries to reach out to her but can neither move nor speak. Finally, when he can, he tries to contact Anindita whose phone is not reachable. But, Rannvijay gets a call from her father instead informing him that Anindita was found hanging at the Rudra Mills where she had gone earlier in the night for her research.
Rannvijay, a nonbeliever in ghosts and afterlife, however, had a weird experience earlier. Anindita had come to him to apologise for leaving him and that she would always love him. He, along with his friends, decides to carry on the research on ghosts at the mill hoping that his girlfriend has turned into one too and he would be able to meet her. In the process, you keep watching some mix and match from other horror/ ghost movies.
There is nothing much to the story that can thrill you. Direction is passable sans highlights. Visual effects are good at times. Background score is loud. The three friends are on a ghost hunting mission or fun trip is something that one wonders. Rannvijay does fair while Anindita has a brief role. Kavin and Sahil are okay.
3 A.M. has no hope at the box office whatsoever.
Producers: Handprint Pictures, Essel Vision.
Director: Vishal Mahadkar.
Cast: Rannvijay Singh, Anindita Nayar, Salil Acharya, Kavin Dave.
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.
