‘Amar Singh Chamkila’: Coming soon on Netflix, the untold story of legendary Punjabi singer

Diljit Dosanjh portrays ‘Chamkila,’ the top-selling artist of his era, who rose from poverty to immense fame in the 1980s through his powerful music

Our Bureau
Mumbai

The trailer of Imtiaz Ali’s upcoming film ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’, which stars Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, was released on Thursday. The movie depicts the untold true story of Punjab’s legendary singer. Diljit Dosanjh portrays ‘Chamkila,’ the top-selling artist of his era, who rose from poverty to immense fame in the 1980s through his powerful music.

‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ is set to stream on the OTT platform Netflix from April 12.

The film has been produced by Mohit Choudhary, Select Media Holdings LLP, Saregama, and Window Seat Films. The music of the film is available on Saregama.

Award-winning filmmaker and producer Rahul Mittra plays an interesting cameo in the movie.

The trailer shows a young man (Diljit Dosanjh) from a Punjab village invited to perform at a local event. Despite his objections to being called Chamkila, he decides to proceed. Surprisingly, his music enthrals the village, especially the women, although some criticize the provocative lyrics. Eventually, he joins forces with singer Amarjot Kaur.

Speaking about the journey of creating Amar Singh Chamkila, Imtiaz Ali said, “Stories of young musicians that challenge the norms of society, who see unprecedented success and then have violent ends is, unfortunately, a worldwide phenomenon. The life and times of Chamkila raised important questions for society but ultimately it is a celebration of the life of an artist, the story of a musician who could never give up his first love – music.”

Helmed by Imtiaz Ali, ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ presents the untold true story of Punjab’s original rockstar of the masses, who emerged from the shadows of poverty and rose to the heights of popularity in the 80s due to the sheer power of his music, angering many along the way, which finally led to his assassination at the young age of 27.

At the launch event, Diljit Dosanjh got emotional after filmmaker Imtiaz Ali praised him. At the trailer launch, Imtiaz was sharing anecdotes about their time working together when Imtiaz praised him. He said that his time has come and this is just the start. Imtiaz Ali shared, “The first person I spoke to about the film was AR Rahman. We were wondering who should we cast. The first name that came to our mind was Diljit paaji’s. But we felt that this casting won’t happen and that he won’t do the film.”

Imtiaz said, “I even remember talking to Angad. Angad also said, ‘Why don’t you talk to Diljit?’.”

Neha Dhupia, host of the event, quipped, “I am hoping Diljit recommends Angad’s name for another film.”

Imtiaz continued, “Finally, Diljit and I spoke. I thought I’ll have a five-minute conversation to fix up a time for narration. We ended up talking for an hour. What happens is that when you are telling the story to an actor, if you are liking it yourself, then that’s the actor you want in the film. The way Diljit listened to the narration, I started getting more interested in the story.”

He even said, “I feel that without Diljit and Parineeti, this film couldn’t have been made. I hope when you all watch it, you realize why I say so.”

Towards the end, Imtiaz stated how Diljit Dosanjh got into the skin of the character of Amar Singh Chamkila. Praising Diljit, he said, “Yeh bas aapki shuruaat hai,”.

After hearing this, Diljit got teary-eyed.

Speaking about the journey of creating Amar Singh Chamkila, Imtiaz Ali said, “Stories of young musicians that challenge the norms of society, who see unprecedented success and then have violent ends is, unfortunately, a worldwide phenomenon. The life and times of Chamkila raised important questions for society but ultimately it is a celebration of the life of an artist, the story of a musician who could never give up his first love – music.”