Hindi
Majid Majidi and Dilip Kumar get Lifetime Achievement Awards at Jaipur festival
NEW DELHI: Jamshid Mahmoudi has received the Golden Camel award for best director for Afghanistan film “A Few Cubic Meters of Love” at the Seventh Jaipur International Film Festival which concluded in Jaipur. The film also received the best cinematography award for Morteza Ghafori.
The Red Rose award went to India’s Aditya Vikram Sengupta for “Asha Jaoar Maihe” in the Best Released feature film category, while the Green Rose went to India’s Dr. Biju for the feature film “Perariyathavar” for giving a Global Message.
The Yellow Rose went to India’s Agneya Singh for the “M Cream” upcoming feature film with world premiere.
Renowned Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi was awarded the first International award for lifetime contribution and the National Award for lifetime achievement was presented to veteran Dilip Kumar (received by Anupam Kher). A video on him made by his wife Saira Bano was shown on the occasion on the inaugural day (1 February).
A total of 159 films including around 10 premieres were featured in the five-day festival inaugurated jointly by actor Anupam Kher, well known filmmaker Shaji N. Karun, National award winning filmmaker Dr. Biju, actress Pallavi Joshi, and director Vivek Agnihotri.
“A Few Cubic Meters of love”, a 90-minute Persian language feature film of Jamshid Mahmoudi from Afghanistan was the opening film of this year’s festival. It is a romantic story of love between a young Iranian working in a Teheran factory and the daughter of an Afghan worker.
The Best Debutante Director award went to Bangladesh’s Abu Shahed Emon for the feature “Jalal’s Story”
The best actress award went to Sohana Saba from Bangladesh for “Brihonnola” (which also won the best screenplay award for Murad Parvez) and the actor award went to Parviz Parastui for the Iranian features “Today” & “Mihman Darim”.
Among the features, the best Sound And Editing Award went to Sandeep A. Varma for the Indian “Manjunath”.
In the feature documentary category, the Golden Camel went to Indonesia’s Danniel Ziv for “Jalanan” as Best Director; the Green Rose went to Ireland’s Laura Fletcher for “African Pride” for the film which gives a Global Messag; the Best Sound And Editing Award went to Switzerland’s David Induni & Roccardo Studer for “Heritage”; and the best cinematography award went to the Indian Kavya Sharma & Sudeep Sen Gupta for “The Mount of Faith”.
In the documentary category, the best film award went to India’s Anand Gandhi for his film “New Borns” in the International Competition of the Worldwood International Panorama while the Special Jury mention was given to the Spanish Asier Urbieta for “Arconda”.
The awards in the short films category were: Switzerland’s ‘Mosqueto’ by Jeppe Hansen getting the best award in the International Competition of the Worldwood International Panorama; the best script going to India’s Kapil Sawant for “Banner”; the best director also going to India’s Sunit Sinha for “Pratihinsa”; the best editor going to Emilions Avraam from Cyprus for “5 Ways 2 Die”; best cinematographer going to Croatian Nic Mussell for “Zwischen Den Linien”; best sound editor award going to Estonian Horret Kuss for “Papa”; and Special Jury Mention for Sweden’s Henrik Henziger for “Nar Tararna Fallit”.
The other awards were the best upcoming Students film award to India’s Aroop Dwivedi for ‘Aai’; the best Rajasthani film award to Gajendra S. Shrotriya for “Selfie”; Rocket Science Animation for “Anita Ka Gudiya Ghar” from India in the Animation Film Category; and Special Jury Mention for Animation Award to Max Hattler for “Unclean Proof” from UK, Italy, and Germany.
The Best Print Media Coverage went to Dainik Bhaskar and the best Television Media Space
award to E TV Rajasthan.
JIFF founder and director Hanu Roj told indiantelevision.com that the festival received a total of 1827 film applications. The selected films include 33 Feature Films, seven Documentary Features, 86 Short Films, 17 Short Documentaries and 16 Animation Films. Of these, 68 films are from India and rest 91 from all over the world. Thirteen workshops and four special meets will be the centre of attraction in this year JIFF.
Bangladesh was the Guest Country at the Festival this year.
Out of 33 feature films, 10 feature films had their first Indian, Asian and World Premiere.
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.
