Hindi
Simran: Ill-defined
Gujarati NRI family or a Gujarati abroad seems to be the current theme for filmmakers. We recently had Jab Harry Met Sejal and this week has seen the release of Simran.
Simran is about a Gujarati family settled in the US that consists of a mother, a father and a daughter. The daughter, KanganaRanaut, is a divorcee and, mainly, a rebel without a cause. She works at a hotel in the housekeeping department. Her job is the usual – making beds and cleaning room, but, she is particular about calling her job as one in housekeeping department; that probably gives it dignity according to her. Still, she does not think much of her father’s business of vending Gujarati savouries.
Kangana is always at loggerheads with her father except, of course, when she needs a favour, especially monetary help. While her father and mother are keen on getting her married again, her priority is to move out to a place of her own. She has been saving for a new house due to which her contribution to the household is nil.
Asked to accompany her cousin to Vegas, she agrees. Her cousin has a rendezvous planned with her boyfriend there.Deciding to leave her cousin alone with her man, she wanders into a casino. On the bar counter she spots a handsome man and decides to hit on him. As the hunk goes to a gambling table, she follows him there where she meets another Gujarati who encourages and teaches her to gamble.
Kangana has that customary beginners luck, wins some money and immediately decides cater to some urges to buy a dress and other things. And, she is back to the gambling table. The beginners luck has worn out and she starts losing and, like most gamblers, wants to one more go finally also losing her savings. The casino loans her money, 32,000 dollars!
Kangana’s troubles have started. Since her savings are finished, her credit rating falls and her application for a loan for her new home is denied. The gun totting black collector for the casino is at her back, threatening all the time.
To lay her hands on money, Kangana decides to rob banks. Her three attempts are successful but, strangely, no bank seems to have 50,000 dollars which she now owes to the casino including interest. Kangana loses her job when the black casino collector comes to her workplace. To add to her troubles, the stolen money which she kept in her locker in the hotel changing room is also gone.
Kangana decides on one final robbery.
In the meanwhile, she has come close to the guy her family has chosen, takes a liking to him as well. But, it is also the time for her troubles to climax.
The film’s story does not quite convince a viewer. There is no logic to the protagonist’s behaviour. Her attitude, way of life and thinking are not identifiable. The walking into a bank and scaring the teller enough to hand over all the money on a lipstick inscribed threat chit seems easier than cashing a cheque in any bank! For one who never cares for the feelings of her father or the saamaj which he often cites, it is strange that she decides to lead the police away from the population lest the samaaj sees her. The direction of the movie is passable but has taken too many liberties. The cinematography is good as the US locations provide ample scope. Using Gujarati dialogue frequently does not help the cause with other audiences as has been seen in earlier films that have resorted to a regional language. The music works well for the film.
This is purely a KanganaRanaut vehicle with other actors being incidental. She excels. Soham Shah in a small role is sincere.
Simran has had a poor opening. The chances of picking up are dim during this dull period.
Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Shailesh R Singh, Amit Agarwal.
Director: Hansal Mehta.
Cast: KanganaRanaut, Soham Shah.
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.
