Hindi
Delhi book fair marks centenary of Indian cinema
NEW DELHI: Discussions on subjects like “Converting Books to Films” and book releases by a large number of personalities from the film world marked the 20th Delhi Book Fair which had the centenary of Indian cinema as its theme.
Three books were released in Braille on cinema for the visually challenged. The Fair also saw the launch of the popular comic ‘Champak‘ as an audio-CD by Vishv Books.
The Fair, spread over four different halls, had one theme pavilion with over 300 publications on Indian cinema, and saw the presence of several film personalities for various events and book releases, including actor Farooq Sheikh, lyricist Javed Akhtar, Deepti Naval, and Nandita Das.
The theme pavilion was also notable for screening some black and white films of masters like Satyajit Ray and others, apart from displaying the gramophone player and records, film reels and spools and how they gave way to newer technologies.
The fair had a theme-based exhibition – Point of View: One Hundred Years of Indian Cinema – to celebrate the relationship between literature and cinema. Dual special volumes on art of behaving and a change of Urdu on Hindi cinema – “Johare Adakari” and “Urdu and Bollywood” – were released on 29 February.
A book by wellknown critic-turned filmmaker Khalid Mohammed, ‘Two mothers and other stories’ published by Om Books was released by actor Anil Kapoor to coincide with the Fair.
Held every two years in Pragati Maidan, the fair focused on the role and contribution of the cinematic medium towards popular culture on the centenary year celebrations of the Cinema.
“The world book fair featured several film celebrities and authors. The aim was to highlight and portray the works on Indian Cinema,” said National Book Trust Director M A Sikandar.
Earlier at the beginning of this year, the NBT came out with a calendar showcasing the cinema based on literature. The main idea behind such an initiative is to portray the mutual relationship between books and cinema.
Though cinema came to India in July 1896, the first indigenous feature film – ‘Raja Harishchandra’ by D G Phalke after whom the Dadasaheb Phalke awards are named – was made in 1913. It was decided to mark the centenary this year as the next fair would be in 2014.
A total of 27 countries and several international organisations took part and some ministerial delegations of foreign countries also visited the fair, including those of France and UAE.
The event saw around 1,300 publishers with 2,500 book stalls. A rare exhibition of books authored by Rabindranath Tagore marked the 150th centenary of his birth, and the Delhi pavilion marked 100 years of the capital.
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.
