On the 8th of March, 1988 Amar Sing Chamkila and his wife Amarjot were gunned down at Mehsampur in Punjab where they had just reached to perform. And it is with this cold opening that Imitiaz Ali’s movie begins as multiple narrators linked to the life of Chamkila narrate the person they knew resulting in a portrait of a complex man who even with his flaws left a massive cultural footprint. The story is not limited to just recapturing the life of Chamkila but through that analyzing art, censorship, and who gets to decide what someone hears or sees.
Diljit Dosanjh is stunning in the lead as Chamkila, as he slips into the character, playing him with an ease which makes you forget that you are seeing a performance. What starts as a simple character during the course of its runtime transforms into someone with much more depth and layers to him. A person shaped by the society around him, that came out through his songs that were deemed vulgar. Opposite him, Parineeti Chopra shines as Amarjot. When we see her first, she is a reserved girl, but the perception of her changes when she starts singing. The love growing between them is handled beautifully, as they come together during their multiple sessions and rehearsals. The supporting cast of the movie also adds to it, with special mention for Anjum Batra playing Chamkila’s friend Keshar Singh Tikki, both in his performance and his narration.
Imtiaz and Sajid Ali’s screenplay is the icing on the cake that rises from being a straightforward biopic into a commentary on the art and its censorship by the supposed guardians of morality. We see that with the rise in Chamkila’s fame, the content of his vulgar lyrics attracts attention and threats by people claiming to be acting as custodians of society. But this is in direct contrast with the public’s reception of the songs. A public that capitulates Chamkila into superstardom. His records sell unlike any others, and the demand for his live performances soars. So in this picture, what comes into question is who gave the right to this relatively small group to decide what the majority wants for themselves. The Naram Kalja song beautifully captures this dissociation where the women take centre stage as the songs of Chamkila fuel their repressed sexual needs.
For being a movie about the singer, the songs needs to be well done. And in this aspect the movie comes with flying colours in with its two types of songs first with the original songs of Chamkila and then the original compositions for the movie where the lyrics further add to the movie. There are sections where the movie goes into surrealist territory, with its animation and then the scene where Chamkila’s song doesn’t just represent him but the vast majority of Punjab whose identity is associated to that. A creative choice that I really loved.
The screenplay does a really good job at capturing the dilemma that the life of Chamkila brings with his deeply vulgar songs and how multiple sections of society react it. But, there are certain sections of his life that I wanted to be explored more, esp. the phase of his life during the Riots of 1984. Besides that, a bit more focus in his formative years as he was making his first steps into the music would have added to the experience.
Overall, Imtiaz Ali has made a wonderful movie that easily ranks among the best of his filmography. A movie that not only captures a life but through its storytelling presents us with questions of artistic freedom and who gets to decide what others hear. Diljit and Parineeti further uplift this wonderful story to give a cinematic experience to be remembered.
VERDICT: 9/10
