Hindi
A love story not worth telling on screen
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Producer: Sunil Bohra, Shailesh R Singh, Kiran Kumar Koneru |
Mumbai: Love, adultery, jealousy and the resultant crime are factors as old as the puranas. Then why wait for a real life incident that created a major scandal and grabbed headlines in all the media?
May be the idea was exactly to cash in on all that publicity the said scandal generated and also to avail of a ready story. Unfortunately, that is the major drawback of Not A Love Story.
Not A Love Story is a cinematic narrative of the infamous Neeraj Grover murder, the media judgements and the court case that followed on a Kannada actor wanting to make it big in Hindi films and her boyfriend.
Mahi Gill, aspiring to be a film actress, descends in Mumbai after convincing her overzealous boyfriend, Deepak Dobriyal, that if she fails to make it, she will return in a few months. And if she succeeds, he could also join her in Mumbai.
After some mandatory struggle, she bags a lead role, thanks to the production company‘s head, Ajay Gehi, who roots for her. The two with other friends hit a pub to celebrate her break, after which Gehi lands up at her house for ‘one for the road‘. Intoxicated, he has a personal sob story to tell Gill, and, as a drunk and emotional woman would do, she lends him a shoulder, eventually both ending up in bed.
Next morning, before they could gather themselves, her boyfriend, Dobriyal, is at her door and sees a naked man on her bed. To absolve herself she cries rape and, on an impulse, Dobriyal kills Gehi. The law catches up and the film ends sans final court verdict.
So what is so inspiring about this story, real or otherwise, to base a film on? Are people interested still in that beaten to death story? Does not seem so looking at the attendance at cinema halls on day one, show one. In that case, should one conclude that Ram Gopal Varma may have felt that his ‘treatment‘ backed with a powerful background score would elevate the story to dramatic heights? On the first count, that of treatment, the answer is no, it is still a documentary on a real life event; as for the powerful background score, it has been wasted on this film. Performance wise, Deepak Dobriyal and Zakir Hussain are the only ones to make an impact; rest are okay.
Not A Love Story is a love story which was not worth telling on a screen by any name. There is nothing or no one you empathise with in this film.
Chatur Singh Two Star is poor in all respects
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Producer: Mohamad Aslam |
Mumbai: It must have seemed like a bright idea adapting the bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau of the famous Pink Panther series. The makers may even have wondered why no one thought of it when they decided to model Chatur Singh Two Star on this popular theme which went on for 11 film or TV versions.
Sanjay Dutt is a two star police detective inspector with bumbling ways and foolish notions; in short he is anything but Chatur (smart) a la detective Clouseau. His sidekick, Suresh Menon, is Clouseau‘s Chinese major domo.
Sanjay Dutt earns a two-week suspension for his detection abilities leading to putting a tycoon‘s son behind bars. However, when an ailing politician, Gulshan Grover, opts for hospital instead of jail after faking a heart attack, his boss, Anupam Kher, recalls Sanjay Dutt for the simple task of guarding him in hospital. But Dutt continues his foolhardy ways sniffing around like a spy he has read about in cheap paperback fictions.
The writer and director feel the need to bring in some sort of story at this juncture. The politician, Gulshan Grover, is shot dead by a sniper from across the hospital room. His secretary, Ameesha Patel, is suspected of being the killer and escapes to South Africa thanks to Sanjay Dutt‘s help, and on him falls the job to trace her and bring her to book.
The scene moves to South Africa locales where some more funny characters are introduced in the form of Satish Kaushik, an ex-don gone bananas, his side kick, Shakti Kapoor, who has now taken over as the new don and speech impaired cabbie, Mushtaque Khan. The idea is to trace Rs 5 billion worth of diamonds Gulshan Grover has placed in the custody of Satish Kaushik. What follows is utterly predictable with climax being the kind seen in half a dozen films in recent times.
Having chosen a totally performance-based subject requiring an actor of immense talent who can make people laugh without making any conscious effort, the makers add to their blunder by casting Sanjay Dutt who is expressionless rather than deadpan. He resorts to ineffective buffoonery.
Ameesha Patel has no contribution to make. As for other capable actors, Anupam Kher, Satish Kaushik, Shakti Kapoor, Mushtaque Khan and Suresh Memon, who have carried off comic roles ably earlier, are unable to do
much in the absence of funny scenes or dialogue. In fact, the writing is banal and juvenile. Direction is below par. Musical score is a liability and adds to the tedium.
Chatur Singh Two Star is poor in all respects.
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.
