Hindi
Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara: Akshay Kumar all the way
MUMBAI: Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaa is touted as a sequel to the producers’ earlier film, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. The claim is a deception and a ploy to cash in on the popularity of the earlier film. Supposedly based on a chapter from the don Dawood Ibrahim’s life, it is just another love triangle.
Akshay Kumar has killed senior dons and attained the mantle of the ultimate don of Mumbai. The remaining local area gangsters are also rendered ineffective by him thereby creating enemies waiting to kill him. His main opponent is Mahesh Manjrekar. Akshay has shifted his base to Middle East but still rules the underworld of Mumbai from there. Akshay had long back picked a young boy, Imran Khan, and nurtured him into a perfect daredevil.
Having neutralised all his enemies, he plans to visit Mumbai again; the agenda being to eliminate Manjrekar once and for all. The task to eliminate him is passed onto Imran and another henchman, Chetan Hansraj, who botch it up as Manjrekar outsmarts them.
But there is a distraction in his life and plans. A khiladi with women otherwise, for the first time in his life, he falls in love. The woman is Sonakshi Sinha, but he is unaware that his own protégé, Imran, also loves the same woman. The film, which was fun so far, starts going downhill as the love triangle plays up and the villain in Akshay starts getting more and more cruel, illogical, stretched and dull.
As the film continues with its love story of two men and one woman, there are songs and dream sequences and poor Sonakshi ends up being in the imagination songs of both the heroes. There seem to be no better, more interesting ways known to the writer to fill up the reels, notwithstanding the tedium it causes to the viewers. This is until Akshay suddenly dreams up a plot to lure Manjrekar out of his den: to spread the rumour that Akshay and Imran have fallen out as both crave the same woman! As invincible as the tales of Dawood Ibrahim have made him, Akshay, supposedly playing his character, takes on Manjrekar in the middle of a busy Mumbai road with traffic in full flow from both directions.
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Producers: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor. |
Having killed his main adversary now is the time for the love triangle to reach some sort of conclusion. Pitobash Tripathy, Imran’s childhood buddy, finds a place in Akshay’s car. He has been brought here to ‘unwittingly’ convey that Imran also loves Sonakshi. Akshay being don and Imran being his underling knows only one way to end the love triangle: by killing Imran. There is some one-sided action as Imran refuses to raise his hand on his mentor and goes on to take a police bullet meant for Akshay on himself.
The film is okay while Akshay holds the fort on his own for much of first half of the film. It is also okay with Imran’s entry scene. But enter Sonakshi and the film loses its track. Milan Luthria is not in his element and has also taken the viewer for granted at many places. Characters play Shoaib, Aslam and Jasmine speak of ‘Paap’ and cite ‘Ram’ and ‘Ravan’, which is odd. Nor does the film create the aura of the era it deals with. Rajat Arora has done well with his dialogue writing, especially the ones penned for Akshay. Musically, the film has an entertaining number in Tayyab Ali pyar ka dushman…. A hit number borrowed from Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony and scored by Laxmikant Pyarelal. The other good songs are: Tu hi khwahish… And Yeh tune kya kiya… Editing needed to be crisper. Photography is good.
The film is an Akshay Kumar vehicle and he makes the most of it; dressed like a mid 20th century American gangster with jelled hairstyle, dark glasses and suit without tie, he carries a certain gait in his walk. This is one of his better performances. Imran is good in certain parts. Sonakshi is okay. Pitobash is good as usual. Sonali Bendre makes a brief role while Vidya Balan makes a passing appearance.
Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara is a mish-mash between a crime and a romance film, which does not quite work for a viewer.
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.
