Hindi
Bol Bachchan is imbecilic and banal
MUMBAI: The first half of Bol Bachchan is almost like Part II of Singham. It is totally South-influenced, with Ajay Devgn playing a mofusil landlord, who controls his town and people and who travels with a cavalcade of half a dozen SUVs of same make, model and colour. His only detractor is his own blood, a cousin.
The villain, Jeetu Verma, does not matter because he is just an excuse to show Devgn‘s fighting prowess.
Ajay Devgn is a wrestler; he is all brawn and no brains. Like in all his Golmaal films, he is the Big Moose character from Archie comics who just flashes his muscles while the others are funny. He can‘t make you laugh for the life of it. He is laughed at and you join in most of the time; he is made a fool of and you enjoy it initially till it all gets senile and childish as the film progresses.
Rohit Shetty picks an old classic, Golmaal, a 1979 Hrishikesh Mukherjee hit and decides to make his own version based on it. So here is Abbas Ali (Abhishek Bachchan), who has been conned out of his own taxi as well as the house he possesses in Delhi by some conniving loan sharks. With Hindi films being the flag bearers of secularism, his father‘s best buddy, Asrani, tells Abhishek that more than buddies, he and Abhishek‘s father were like brothers and offers to take him to his native Ranakpur where a job is waiting for him at Devgn‘s estate. Ajay Devgn rules the land with his own laws and diktats but he is his people‘s beloved for his fair ways. So what if he takes along a posse of musclemen to punish a worker who conned him of 99 rupees.
Having arrived in Ranakpur, Abhishek makes his presence felt instantly when he breaks the lock of a disputed temple to save a child who has fallen in a lake in the temple premises. He catches Devgn‘s eye for his brave act. He is introduced to him as Abhishek Bachchan instead of Abbas by his sidekick, Krishna, as the mob that has gathered to watch the event would not take lightly to a Muslim breaking open a temple door even if to save a child. This sets the ball rolling for the lie after lie they tell Devgn and more lies to cover the previous lie. Devgn is generous and lenient but deception is one thing he punishes brutally. Abhishek the Abbas is devout and keeps roza and his lie is almost found out as Devgn and his yes man, Neeraj Vora, see him offering the Eid namaaz.
So far Bol Bachchan was fun and games but this is where the director decides to fall back on the 1979 Golmaal as Abhishek wriggles out of the namaaz episode by saying it must be his brother, Abbas who was offering the namaaz; he does not sport a moustache which Abhishek does. What is more, Abbas is gay. Devgn, the soft heart do-gooder that he is, also wants to employ waylaid Abbas/Abhishek to teach his sister, Prachi Desai, classical dance. Thereafter, the writers and director go berserk and there is a double role galore; Asin, who plays Abbas/Abhishek‘s siter has two identities too, so does Archana Puran Singh and you forget who else! With Devgn having a sister and Abhishek Bachchan too having one, a cross connection is obvious. Both guys love the others‘ sister; Abhishek loves Prachi Desai because of no apparent reason and Devgn loves Asin because she is a pixel for pixel look alike of his deceased girlfriend! Even the late Manmohan Desai would not have found this worth trying; and he was the king of make-believe!
The truth has to come out someday and, when it happens, it is on a car balancing on a mountain boulder. The problem is that it is a long drawn sequence with poor audio. Humour, if any in this scene, is lost. What is more, such a sequence needs avant-garde special effects and, on that count, the scene is shoddy.
Rohit Shetty was good with his Golmaal series but this time he has taken his audience for granted and dished out an imbecile, banal stuff; he has lost his direction to put it mildly. Script goes haywire and an editor is sorely missed in this 154-minute marathon of forced comedy. First half is tolerably fun but second half is a farce. The film lacks totally on music, emotions and romance, the three vital ingredients in an Indian film. The item song at the start of the film with Amitabh Bachchan is uninspiring and a waste.
This is not a performance film really and, considering that, Ajay Devgn just about passes muster as Mr Duh. Abhishek Bachchan is okay as Abhishek Bachchan but totally at sea as the gay Abbas; he is just not made to play gay. Prachi Desai and Asin are just decorative pieces and bad ones at that. Archana Puran Singh and Krishna ham all the way through. Only good performances come from Asrani and Neeraj Vora.
Bol Bachchan has a rather huge price tag attached to it and with average opening and uncomplimentary reports, it will fall way short of its recovery target.
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.
