Hindi
Horror movies bring good news for global box office
Los Angeles: Movie theaters have been struggling to maintain a reopening momentum after being shuttered throughout 2020 due to the coronavirus. The problem has been magnified because many high-profile franchise films have been released in theatres and on streaming services at the same time. However, this hasn’t been the case across the board with Hollywood’s 2021 horror films, which are being shown in theatres exclusively or with delayed streaming access.
Horror is turning out to be good news for the box office as it is now estimated that the horror genre has generated 20 per cent of the overall theatrical revenue in North America during the pandemic. Furthermore, studies indicate that horror flicks may actually better prepare people for unsettling true-life events like a pandemic.
While expensive, franchise-friendly tentpoles such as “Black Widow” have fallen short of expectations, the recently released, smaller $25 million budget, horror-flick “Candyman” had a solid debut earning $22 million at the US box office in its opening weekend. “Horror movies are an accountant’s and studio executive’s dream with a huge upside of profit potential due to their inherent cost-effectiveness,” said Comscore’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “You don’t need to break the bank to make a killer scary movie and the box-office results for the genre, particularly during the pandemic, have been most impressive.”
“A Quiet Place Part II” opened in May with $47.5 million and has earned $160 million domestically and nearly $300 million worldwide against its $60 million budget. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” debuted in June with $24 million domestically and went on to earn $65.5 million domestically and $201 million globally while also streaming on HBO Max. It had a budget of $40 million.
By comparison, “Black Widow” had a production budget of $200 million and a marketing budget estimated to be around $100 million. With a worldwide box office of $370 million since its July release, which the studio splits with cinemas, the Marvel film likely won’t break even. Disney has reported some of its streaming grosses for the title, which includes an estimated $60 million opening weekend in digital sales.
Likewise, “The Suicide Squad”, which opened in theaters in August, had a budget of $185 million and has currently collected an estimated $154.5 million in box office receipts. This film was also made available for free on HBO Max to subscribers.
Just as horror flicks are faring better at the box office during the pandemic, a recent study out of the University of Chicago suggests fans of this genre may also cope better. According to the research team, fans of horror films are more psychologically resilient during frightening world events like the pandemic. Likewise, people who tend to watch so-called ‘prepper’ films about preparing for zombie invasions or the apocalypse reported feeling more prepared for life during the pandemic. These people also are more likely to watch pandemic-themed films during this time.
According to Hartford HealthCare, the University of Chicago research team studied the answers of 322 American adult participants to questions related to movies, mental health, and the pandemic. Topics included film genre preferences, interest in pandemic films, their preparedness for the pandemic, and their mental health during the pandemic. They were asked if they have felt more depressed than usual, have been sleeping well, and whether they watch the news. They also had to report on their reaction to the pandemic, if they felt they knew what to buy to hunker down at home and if the pandemic itself surprised them.
According to the team, horror fans were not necessarily more prepared or resilient in the face of the pandemic, but they were far less distressed psychologically. Fans of prepper genres were much more prepared for the pandemic and noted fewer disruptions to their day-to-day life. They were no more likely to exhibit positive resilience, however. Participants with a moderate or greater interest in watching horror films during the COVID-19 pandemic were found to have greater positive resilience in real life than those with no interest.
“Scary movies allow viewers to practice coping with distressing emotions, such as fear, in a safe and controlled environment” said the director of the Anxiety Disorders Center, part of the Hartford HealthCare Behavioral Health Network, Dr David Tolin. “As we gain a sense of mastery over fear, real-world concerns such as the COVID pandemic become less scary to us as well.”
The researchers concluded that while people generally watch horror films as entertainment, there are subtle lessons being delivered. Horror fiction allows its audience to practice emotion regulation skills and hone strategies for dealing with fear which may help in effective coping strategies in unusual true-world situations.
The horror genre has helped buoy film theatres and possibly better prepared its fans to cope with the pandemic. Who would have known in early 2020 as COVID-19 began its deadly spread that watching a good horror flick might prove effective against this real-world enemy?
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.
