Hindi
Post-1989, Polish Cinema is taking to Hollywood style of filmmaking
PANAJI: Professor Piotr Klodowski, ambassador of Poland in India, said the language of cinema is the most universal for communication and he would, therefore, like greater cooperation between his country and India.
Klodowski, who speaks fluent Hindi, said the recent visit of the Polish Minister for Cultural and National Heritage to India had also strengthened this view.
He also promised to examine offers from film societies or filmmakers for Indo-Polish collaboration in this field. There were plans to collaborate with film schools, he said.
Addressing the Open Forum on Polish cinema with particular reference to the retrospective of the films of Jan Jacub Kolski at IFFI, he said cinema had undergone a major change in his country since 1989. While there was greater freedom, there were commercial pressures since the industry was earlier supported by the state. This had its positive and negative aspects. Films made before 1989 had restrictions but were generally good.
Kolsky said it was unfortunate that modern Polish cinema was turning to Hollywood for ideas, and therefore he avoided seeing films by other Polish filmmakers. However, he said Dorotha Kedzierzawska – who was also present – was an exception since she also stuck to her own style.
He said he wanted to keep his own perspective and stuck to his own style. He agreed to the presence of a strong Catholic influence in his films, but said he used this to expose the shallowness of Catholicism and use this to comment upon love, life and the world.
Asked if he had seen any Indian films, he said he preferred to watch the people. He felt it was too strong to say cinema in his country had degenerated but it had polarised and privatised.
He said eight of his 13 films were being shown and it was a mere coincidence that these eight were based in the countryside, since he had also made films in the city.
Referring to his latest film Venice shown here, he said it was based on the alter ego of the author who wrote the short story it was based on. It is about the oppression all around us with no place of escape. His central character, therefore, tends to withdraw into himself.
He said he was known for using stories that were ‘unadaptable’ to the large screen.
Dorotha said she liked the way Indians loved cinema. She said she agreed that Polish cinema was turning to Hollywood. The present Polish cinema was going in two directions: the commercial and the art. She preferred not to talk too much about her films, particularly after they had been made.
Kolsky’s cinematographer Arthur Reinhard said he had been talking to some Indians about making a film in India. Asked about his visuals, he said every film was a new challenge in itself.
The Open Forum has been organised by the Federation of Film Societies of India in collaboration with the Directorate of Film Festivals and the Entertainment Society of Goa.
Later addressing a press meet, Kolski said his film Venice “is about love awakened by a… lack of love. About growing up. About myself.”
The films being screened in the package are Venice, The Burial of Potato, Johnny The Aquarius, The Miraculous Place, The History of Cinema in the Village of Popielawy, Keep Away from the Window, Pornography, and Happy Aphonya.
The director was extremely happy with the response he received from the viewers at IFFI, and said his films are being perceived as Indian, and that he considers this as the best compliment.
He said he has received similar responses in Japan, Germany, and is happy to know of their universal appeal. When asked why most of the Polish films have a war background, he said “environment during oppression and adverse circumstances is a big stimulus to the creativity of filmmakers.”
Advising the film students, he said if the films are able to move the viewers, narrate a story and get a creative recognition, the filmmakers can consider their work to be successful. He said sensibility is very important for a filmmaker and he wants to make films which “one can absorb through all the senses.”
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.
