Hindi
Cinema must help build the moral compass of the nation and portray positive societal values; Pranab Mukherjee
NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee has said that cinema must be used to portray positive societal values for building a tolerant and harmonious India.
Referring to recent criminal events involving women and children, he said the role of the film industry was very crucial in building the moral compass of the nation. He said the film industry ought to take steps to ensure that cinema was morally energising.
Mukherjee was speaking after he conferred the National Film awards for the year 2012 in various categories at the 60th National Film Awards Function held at the Vigyan Bhawan. The award ceremony coincided with the release of the first Indian feature ‘Raja Harishchandra‘ by the father of Indian cinema D G Phalke on 3 May.
He lauded the initiatives taken by the information and broadcasting ministry including single window clearance for shooting the films in India.
Lauding the recipient of the highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke award, he said actor Pran had commenced in films as a hero in 1940 but then moved on to become the ‘quintessential gentleman villain‘.
There was standing ovation as the name of the 93-year old Pran Sikand, who could not attend because of illness, was announced.
I&B minister Manish Tewari said the presence of films with innovative themes at the 60th NFA had proved that the Indian film industry was playing a proactive role in articulating issues and prejudices that had been historically embedded in our society.
Indian cinema, Tewari added, had been the mirror of the nation‘s milieu and had an incisive influence on the evaluation of society. Internationally, Indian cinema had evolved to cater to the taste of international audiences. A unifying synthesis, Indian films had been able to institutionalise and project India‘s soft power outside the country. The film industry, he said, had grown despite and in spite of the government.
He announced that the government had decided to institute an annual centenary award from this year to be given to a personality or institution recognising a paradigm transformation in film making and honouring individuals or films that had profoundly influenced contemporary, socio cultural evolution.
He also announced that the Films Division Auditorium in Delhi was being re-furbished to convert it into a hub for alternate cinema. The Auditorium which was being used for screenings only on special occasions would be modelled along the lines of Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai to not just screen documentaries, small budget films but also provide a forum for film makers and connoisseurs to discuss the film making.
He referred to the justice Mudgal Committee which was taking a fresh look of the Cinematographic Act 1952, and the Committee would aim to find a golden mean between creative essence and aesthetic sensitivity.
The highlight of the evening was the release of postal stamps of 50 iconic personalities of Indian cinema by the President to commemorate the century long journey of Indian cinema. The film personalities depicted in stamps include Ashok Kumar, Bhalji Pendharkar, Durga Khote, Dev Annad, Yash Chopra, Smita Patil, Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Suraiya, Geeta Dutt, Sohrab Modi, Tapan Sinha, C.V. Sridhar and Bhanumathi.
Speaking on the occasion, communication and information technology minister Kapil Sibal said the Department of Posts had given a fitting tribute to the powerful medium by issuing 50 new stamps.
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.
