Hindi
Rocky Handsome: John’s Action Show Reel
MUMBAI: Self-aggrandizement is what John Abraham’s Rocky Handsome is all about. From the title to all that John attempts on screen reads like a screen test video of an aspiring action hero. But, then, he is the producer of this film. The story of this remake of the South Korean film,The Man From Nowhere, has a cause that has been tried and tested since the birth of the revenge formula;. And sadly, it has also been done to death over many decades. That the hero is well capable of and trained in combat is a concept that has been worn down to shreds. American vigilante films, Sylvester Stallone films and numerous others have left no novelty value in the theme. Closer home, we have had many films like Vipul Shah’s Commando: A One Man Army (2013) in which actor Vidyut Jamwal in the lead as an ex-army man taking on a local mafia somewhere in North India is so similar.
John Abraham is the man from nowhere who has landed up in Goa where he runs a pawnshop. Goa being a combination of backpacking tourists and drugs, a pawnshop is a lucrative business to run, because it is not long before these tourists go broke and feed their needs by pawning their ware.
A victim of the drug mafia is John’s neighbor, a woman who is always high, and pays scant attention to her daughter, Baby Divya. Here, the script and direction start their blundering ways. As if Goa was a one lane township, the whole of Goa, her school and neighbors shun this girl. Why? Because she is a drug addict’s daughter and indulges in small time thefts to cater to her needs. However, she gets along well with John who, despite not showing any outwardly emotions towards her, is fond of her.
John keeps visiting his past in flashbacks, after all, that is his purpose to propel this film. It seems he was once in love with Shruti Haasan. They honeymoon in Seychelles and, not surprisingly, she comes back pregnant, much to the delight of the duo. John enters a hospital to collect reports when an out of control truck rams into the car in which Shruti waits for him. The killers are, of course, the criminal mafia. But, why? John has had nothing to do with them so far. Are they inviting him to annihilate them?
John arrives in Goa but shows no indication that he is seeking revenge in this revenge saga. He carries on with his pawnshop with a deadpan expression which is rather convenient for him since his repertoire of expressions is very limited. Doing an expressionless Robert Mitchum helps in such cases.
Finally, after wasting half an hour, the villains get bored of John’s lethargy and come visiting him. They kidnap both, Divya and her mother. This is an invitation for John to become the mean killing machine that he has been trained as, trained to kill like Stallone was in First Blood! He is an ex CIA or whatever, you are never sure, because the makers are not sure either!
John the producer and the scriptwriter of this film if it has one, and the director Nishikant Kamath, borrow a scene or a sequence from all the action films ever made so far. In the process, they get grossly mixed up and mess up the final product.
John, what you are doing in this film is long passé! It can’t be sold with such a poor script and poorer direction! What is even worse is that the director, Kamath, uses this venture to launch his acting career as the villain in chief! Towards this end, he casts all musclemen around him, but looks like a pygmy himself. Now, what kind of villain would he make? John wants to re-launch his career, while Kamat wants to hike a ride.
All in all, what accounts for Rocky Handsome is poor script, poor to the hilt direction and casting. And what was the reason to make all villains into wannabe comedians, lunatics? Watched too much of Superhero film villains? This is the saddest film about everything in wrong hands. The cast is full of unknown Marathi stage TV actors. They act like zombies.
With just about every aspect of the film being poor, mindless, the film closes an avenue that was open to John, that of turning producer now that the acting film assignments are not forthcoming anymore.
Rocky Handsome has scant appeal for family and the high end multiplex audience. Today being a public holiday,it may benefit a bit at B rung plexes and single screens but is poor viewing on the whole.
Producer: John Abraham, Sunir Khetarpal.
Director: Nishikant Kamat.
Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Nishikant Kamat, Sharad Kelkar, Nathalia Kaur, Baby Diya Chalwad.
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.
