Hindi
Indian Film Project is back!
The India Film Project, a platform for amateurs and professional filmmakers which will see them making a film within the duration of only 48 hours, will be held from 20-28 September.
The 2013 edition of the India Film Project will see the India Film Project going online. Participants can shoot a film in their own city within 48 hours over the weekend and upload it online. The project also announced that it is going international starting this year; which means a larger pool of participants from different countries will be making films simultaneously in two days based on a common theme. It will also mean better production quality from a large number of cities covering different locations with diverse languages and varied lifestyles. The last date for registrations is 14 September 2013.
A common theme and genre will be given to participating teams when the 48 hours period commences at 8:00 pm on Friday 20 September. These teams will have to script, shoot, edit and submit the film by 8:00 pm on Sunday 22 September 22. Apart from the filmmaking competition, the project will also feature a five day film festival online, conducting workshops by eminent filmmakers and technicians and also include film marketing related panel-discussions, cinema exhibitions, etc.
The winning films made at IFP are also sent to various film festivals across the globe and some of them have also won at several international film festivals.
“It’s lovely to see participation flowing from all across the country. We have received plenty of registrations from teams from Metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru to smaller cities like Siliguri, Bhilai, Davangere, Rajkot, Dehradun, Indore, Ranchi, Raipur, etc. and many more tier-II cities. It’s a rare opportunity to make a film and showcase it to such a renowned jury”, said founder and project director Ritam Bhatnagar.
This year’s jury includes 2013’s national award winning film Paan Singh Tomar’s director Tigmanshu Dhulia. Tigmanshu has also directed Saheb Biwi aur Gangster (1 & 2), Shagird and Haasil. Tigmanshu has also acted in Gangs of Wasseypur (1 & 2).
Another jury member, Nikhil Advani, is the man who has directed Kal Ho Naa Ho, Patiala House, Salaam-e-Ishq and D-Day are some of his commercial works. Commenting on the IFP he says, “Our industry is growing exponentially and the need for professionals in-front and behind the camera is also keeping in pace. Initiatives like the India Film Project need to be supported and advocated strongly as they provide a credible platform for new talent to be showcased.”
The third jury member is Bejoy Nambiar. This Indian director, producer and screenwriter is mostly known for his critically acclaimed short films, Rahu and Reflections. He marked his debut with the Hindi film Shaitan (2011) for which he won Most Promising Debut Director at the 18th Annual Colors Screen Awards in 2012.
“Making a film is a real test of time and here I also learnt the importance of team management which is crucial in film making” said Adhish Panchal, second runner up of the IFP 2012 edition and one of the winners of the 2011 edition as well.
The IFP is a platform which encourages and offers amateurs to learn and feel the experience of filmmaking, showcase their work to a large audience, own the film, and learn the methodological approach to filmmaking. It also provides professional and independent filmmakers a platform to compete with best of teams from across the country, being judged by a versatile jury.
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.
