Hindi
Freaky Ali….A slapstick, forced comedy
We have had some sports films which dealt with the theme of an underdog making it to the victory podium after a lot of struggle and toil besides, of course, the glory and honour of the nation. However, the sport has been the one which our people identify with.
Freaky Ali is a love sports story. The sport is golf, a sport purely the domain of the rich. It is also about an underdog but not of the usual kind. In fact, he is a kind of character one would not even expect to see anywhere near a golf course.
Golf is a sport alien to most common people anywhere in the world as it is in India. But, when a film about an independent sport like this is inspired by a Hollywood film, the sport can’t be changed from golf to cricket, a team sport.
Nawazuddin is a debt collector along with Arbaaz Khan. Nikitin Dheer is their boss. This, Nawaz thinks, is the way to make a fast buck. The duo works for the kind the ‘finance institutions’ that existed not long ago in India to recover monies lent to retail borrowers who were not readily forthcoming with repayments.
Earlier, in the movie, Nawaz had tried his hand at selling undergarments. But, when it came to the girl he loved the most, his proposal was rejected because of his profession.
Nawaz lands up on the golf course during one of his loan recovery rounds. Here his boast leads him to try the sport. And, as the film stories can fit in anything, Nawaz surprises all. His latent talent in noticed by a caddie, Asif Basra, who decides to help him hone his skills.
Abracadabra. Nawaz is now a golf champion of international standards. He is soon doing the professional circuit. He goes on a winning spree much to the discomfiture of his rival Jas Arora. Also, working against Nawaz’s interest is Nikitin, who wants him to lose at any cost.
With success comes love — Amy Jackson.
The film loses the battle when it borrows the idea of the sport of golf and an underdog. The comedy is forced instead of emanating naturally from the situations, and falls flat. Direction in the movie is weak to state the least and editing is slack.
Dialogues in the movie are good at some places, especially the lines written for Nawaz. The cinematography is okay. The songs don’t entertain at all. The qawwali, Ya Ali Murtaza, is the only saving grace.
Nawaz shines even in this mundane comedy. Arbaaz Khan manages with his limited acting skills. Asif Basra is okay. Amy has too little to do to make a mark. Jackie Shroff plays a cameo to no avail.
Freaky Ali lacks appeal even for the growing breed of Nawaz fans.
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.
