Chamkila

It’s not very often that I get enamoured by the promos of a movie. It happened when I saw promos of a Punjabi movie, Kali Jota, starring Neeru Bajwa and one of my favourite singers, Satinder Sartaj. It seemed to be a movie with very strong theme and very mellifluous songs, both a rarity in Punjabi films, where music and comedy, both are usually loud! The movie was released at very few theatres in Mumbai and is seemingly not available on either Netflix or Amazon Prime and therefore, I haven’t been able to watch it. Incidentally, the same pair is now promoting Shayar, which too seems off beat, it’s music already making waves.

This happened to me in case of Chamkila too, a movie based on the life of enigmatic Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila, who was shot dead, along with his wife Amarjot and two companions , when he had gone for one of his concerts. This was in the year 1988, when Chamkila was just 28 years of age. Movie starring Daljit Dosanj in the title role, with Parineeti playing the role of Amarjot has been written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, with music by A R Rahman.

The movie very cleverly mixes the original songs of Chamkila ( that are mostly sung by Dosanj, an accomplished singer and Parineeti, a surprising revelation, themselves) with those composed by ARR that mostly run in the background.

Reviewing a movie is a very tough ask, because different viewers have different tastes. The takeaways from this movie are a very honest and heart rending depiction of Chamkila by Dosanj, Parineeti’s attempt at singing chaste Punjabi songs, Rahman’s captivating music and Imtiaz’s effort in keeping the story true to its spirit, without either glorifying or criticising any aspect.

Of course, the movie highlights the double standards of society, where everyone seems to be relishing Chamkila’s vulgar songs in private or in akhaadas ( as the concerts in Punjab are known as) , but do moral policing on public platforms. It’s a complex depiction in movie that attributes the above to a combination of Chamkila’s humble background, tensions in Punjab at that time, including the situation arising out of Operation Blue Star in 1984 and rivalry- Chamkila simply eclipsed his better known rivals and contemporaries. Whatever be it, let’s give the art and artists to express themselves without any moral impositions. Those who do not like anything in particular, can stay away from it.