Hindi
Don to Munna Bhai: Ultra Media’s 2025 Report maps OTT viewing trends
MUMBAI: If you thought old Hindi films lived only in memory lanes and Sunday television slots, India’s OTT habits in 2025 tell a very different story. From Amitabh Bachchan’s swaggering Don to Raj Kapoor’s epic Mera Naam Joker and the ever-popular Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, classic cinema enjoyed a remarkable digital revival this year, according to the Ultra Media OTT Insights Report 2025.
Released by Ultra Media and Entertainment Group, the data-driven report offers a revealing snapshot of how Indian audiences streamed films in 2025 and the verdict is clear. Viewers may love the new, but they still have a deep affection for the timeless.
Post-2000 Hindi blockbusters dominated viewing on Ultra Play, emerging as the platform’s biggest drivers of watch time, engagement and completion rates. Close behind were 1990s favourites, which delivered strong repeat viewing, while films from the 1950s to the 1970s continued to command a loyal following.
Among pre-1980 classics, Don, Amar Prem, Bobby, Aradhana and Mera Naam Joker topped the charts, consistently outperforming other catalogue titles. Meanwhile, films from the 1990s and early 2000s such as Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, Andaz Apna Apna, Sarfarosh, Tezaab, Karan Arjun and Ghayal recorded the highest watch time and repeat consumption.
Restoration also proved to be a winning move. Digitally restored titles like Rangeela and Sarfarosh outperformed comparable films, clocking higher-than-expected engagement and completion rates. Other restored gems, including Pyaasa, Half Ticket and Pardes, added further weight to the catalogue.
Perhaps the most striking insight is who is watching. Classic cinema is no longer the preserve of older viewers. Gen Z audiences are discovering legacy films for the first time, turning nostalgia into fresh curiosity rather than simple revisits.
Geographically, metros such as Delhi and Mumbai led consumption, followed by Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Patna. Across regions, audiences showed a clear appetite for post-2000 blockbusters, action thrillers, South Indian dubbed films and Hindi classics.
The platform’s audience skewed young and male, with an 80:20 male-female ratio, and nearly 70 per cent of viewers aged under 44, led by the 18 to 24 age group.
Ultra Play also reported strong business momentum, recording 250 per cent year-on-year growth in 2025. Festive viewing surged nearly 300 per cent, supported by the addition of over 700 new titles.
Ultra Media and Entertainment Group CEO Sushilkumar Agrawal said audiences connect with stories, not eras. When classic films are restored and curated well, they can stand shoulder to shoulder with modern releases, he noted.
COO and director Rajat Agrawal echoed the sentiment, adding that Ultra’s journey from VHS to OTT has always centred on preserving and monetising great stories.
Looking ahead, Ultra expects its subscriber base to cross 500,000 by 2026 and reach one million by 2027, aided by platform upgrades such as improved navigation, offline viewing and enhanced streaming quality.
In 2025, it seems, Indian cinema proved one thing beyond doubt. A good story never goes out of fashion, it just finds a new screen.
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.
