Hindi
Freedom of expression is primary theme of 12th Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival
NEW DELHI: Marking a return after a gap of two years, the 12th Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival will see as many as 175 films from around 38 countries from India, Asia and the Arab world.
The Film festival will be held in New Delhi from 27 July to 5 August at Siri Fort Complex and the Osianama and Blue Frog at the Kila Complex, New Delhi in collaboration with the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It will have 15 world premieres, eight International premieres, 104 Indian premieres, and 13 Asian premieres. The screenings will also include 61 shorts.
The films will be shown within an all-embracing framework which focuses on Freedom of Creative Thought and Expression, which is the special theme this year, according to Osian’s Group Chairman Neville Tuli.
Tuli said that it is not enough to be the country producing the highest number of films in the world. “What we need is a cinematic culture,” he said. “Cultivating this will prevent bigotry, censorship and intimidation. Film Festivals are major platforms for carrying this movement forward.”
He said in reply to a question that the budget was around Rs 45– 60 million, adding that there was no profit motive behind the festival which was aimed at promoting a film culture and making Delhi a film hub.
Tuli also referred to the co-operation OCFF had received from the Delhi Government, Morarka Foundation, the Tourism Ministry’s Incredible India campaign, Blue Frog and others.
He said a new component this year will be the introduction of music with performances by renowned artistes every night at Blue Frog. He announced that the Osianama complex for promoting good cinema culture will come up in Delhi by September.
Festival Director Indu Shrikent referred to the eminent jury members comprising the four juries.
The Asian and Arab competition with 12 films will be judged by Marco Mueller who is Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival. Members include Muzaffar Ali, Iranian filmmaker Ali Mostafa, Egyptian director Magdi Ahmed Ali, and the American filmmaker James V Hart. Mueller will also deliver the first Mani Kaul Memorial lecture on 29 July and Hart will hold a master class on 2 August, which will be marked as Horror day because of the genre in which he has specialised.
The Indian jury is headed by Iranian filmmaker Hamid Dabashi, Indian director and film critic Khalid Mohammed, actor Lillete Dubey, Annemarie Jacir from Jordan, Afghan-born filmmaker Atiq Rahimi, and Dutch documentary filmmaker Sonia Herman Dolz. There are nine films in competition.
The First Features Jury judging nine films will have filmmaker Huseyin Karabey, Korean actor and writer Jeon Kyu-hwan, and Indian filmmaker Gurvinder Singh.
The shorts competition jury seeing 12 films comprises Iranian filmmaker Panah Panahi, independent Indian filmmaker Ashvin Kumar and National Award-winning filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni.
In addition, there is a jury set up by the international federation of film critics, FIPRESCI, which has Klaus Eder of Germany, Shoma A Chatterji of India, and Egyptian film critic Tarak el-Shinnawi.
The Japanese film ‘Asura’ by Keiichi Sato will be the opening film on 27 July and Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghish will end the festival. This Bengali film will have its Indian premiere at the OCFF.
Known for its bold programming and innovation in introducing new cinemas to Indian audiences, OCFF is showing some films that turned out to be milestones in the fight for freedom of expression, according to Deputy Director Kaushik Bhaumik. These include five features and two documentaries.
Participating countries include China, Estonia, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Morocco and Algeria among many others.
Some of the highlights of the Festival are:
Film Craft: the Art of Animation; Launching of 7.4: Focus on Environmental Films; Festival Summit: ‘Delhi as India’s Next Cinema City’; Freedom of Expression; Tribute to Mani Kaul; Tribute to Koji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi; Children at Osian’s-Cinefan; Short Films; Youth at Osian’s-Cinefan;
Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema: The Divas of Indian Cinema – 100 Years of Beauty and Grace; 1st Osian’s-Cinefan Auction of Indian Cinema Memorabilia; and The Turtle at the Blue Frog.
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.
