Hindi
Moner Manush bags top award at 41st IFFI
PANAJI: The Indo-Bangladesh co-production Moner Manush, directed by eminent filmmaker Goutam Ghose, today bagged the best film award at the 41st International Film Festival of India which concluded here.
The last time an India film received an award at the IFFI in 2002, when Revati, incidentally a member of jury this year, had received the special jury prize of Silver Peacock for her film, Mitr– My Friend.
The film, which is being released simultaneously tomorrow in India and Bangladesh, is about the Sufi Saint Lallan Faqir who also popularised Baul singing.
Another Indian film, Just Another Love story by Kaushik Ganguly in English, which starred the eminent director Rituparno Ghosh in a debut role, shared the Special Jury with ‘The Boy’ by Taik Wai Titi from New Zealand.
The best director award went to Susanne Bier for the film In a Better World from Dennark and was received by her son.
The best actor award went to Güven Kirac for the Turkish film The Crossing by Selim Demirdelen, while the best actress award went to Magdalena Boczarska in the Polish film Little Rose by Jan Kidawa-Blonski.
All the recipients except the best director were present to receive their awards.
The best film gets the Golden Peacock, a citation, and a cash award of Rs 4 million to be shared equally between the director and producer.
The best director also gets the Golden Peacock while the others get Silver Peacock.
The total award money is $200,000 (Rs nine million) for all awards.
The awards were given away at the ceremony at Kala Academy by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Chowdhury Mohan Jatua, Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, matinee idol Saif Ali Khan (who was the Chief Guest) and other members of the Goa cabinet.
Polish writer, director, producer Jerzy Antczak who chaired the International Jury read out the awards while Indian member Revathy Menon read the citations.
Other members of the jury were: Sturla Gunnarsson who is a filmmaker from Canada; Australia’s Mick Molloy who is a writer, actor, producer; and Olivier P?re who is a festival programmer and author from France.
The concluding programme which culminated with screening of the closing film ‘The Princess of Montpensier’ from France directed by Bernard Tavernier was preceded by a dance programme devised by actress Gracy Singh. Arjun Bajwa and Neetu Chandra were the anchors for the grand finale.
Jatua said Indian films were now being seen in the remotest corners of the globe and were promoting national culture.
Indian cinema was also making a mark overseas in other ways and would be the focus in the next Locarno International Film Festival.
Kamat said the ticket sales had surpassed the sales of last year, fetching over Rs 100,000 as against Rs 80,000 in IFFI 2009. He said the government was aware of the lacunae in infrastructure and was doing everything to overcome these hurdles. He promised a large convention center with bigger capacity soon.
Four film artistes were felicitated on the occasion: actresses Padmapriya and Priyamani, and actors Arjun Rampal and Prosenjit Chatgterjee (son of actor Biswajeet and hero of ‘Moner Manush’).
Festival Director S M Khan from the Directorate of Film Festivals said a total of over 200 films from 61 countries had taken part in the Festival, which commenced on 22 November. Apart from 18 films in competition, 70 were in Cinema of the World while 26 features and 19 non-features were in the Indian Panorama. In addition, there were tributes to around 11 film personalities who passed away over the past year and there were several retrospectives and focus on four different countries.
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.
