Amar Singh Chamkila is a musical autobiography of a Punjabi musical legend of the same name. This Imtiaz Ali movie stars Diljit Dosanjh who plays the role of Chamkila along with Parineeti Chopra who plays the role of Amarjot Kaur, Chamkila’s real life singing partner and wife. Diljit was the reason we watched this movie. Post his Coachella performance he has definetly gained a lot more name, fame, and global recognition. I wasn’t super fond of him based off of my very limited view of him as someone who simultaenously crushes on and slutshames Kylie Jenner (lol), but I was able to go beyond this. As I am currently home(Punjab), there is no escaping his face and his music(especially at my gym). I was able to form a good second impression, especially after his latest Love Ya song which is very cute and has become my favorite. Also since my mom who has been super drawn to his down-to-earth aura and philosophical Universe-y take in his interviews, we decided to watch him play Chamkila on Netlfix last sunday.

The movie is about a 1980s Punjabi singer who became famous(or rather notorious) for his great voice and very raunchy Punjabi lyrics. I liked watching this movie with my mom, because she often likes to claim that West has influenced Indian kids(my generation and onwards) into being too sexuallly open and explicit and if it weren’t for western influences, Indian youth would have never experimented sexually in any capacity. It was very amusing to see her being proven wrong for 2 hours straight, haha. Especially since she understands Punjabi way better than me, she could understand the depth of the double entendres of each Chamkila lyric. There are also Hindi transliterations (apart from the standard Netflix English subtitles) that go along with each song that left even me quite scandalized.

Its no secret that Chamkila was kiiled prior to getting on stage for a performance. The movie begins with this scene and Netflix characterizes this as an assasination autobiography. I kept making the joke throughout the movie that this would be me if I were to attempt to be the Nikki Glaser of Amritsar/Punjab in the 80s(or even today, haha). I’d be killed too for being that raunchy in a place like Punjab(or anywhere in India tbh)

Despite the moral policing (and then actual policing), Chamkila didn’t stop delivering his audience with what they wanted. There was a small window where he tried to pivot to religious folk song genre after some threats, but his audience would demand him to sing his OG raunchy classics.

He became even more popular and eventually a record breaking artist of Punjab, especially during/post 1984 Sikh Massacre, as people would find respite in his playful lyrics that distracted them during that time of tragedy.

Overall I liked (but didn’t love) the movie as it had its slow moments and also the ending felt unsettling as I thought they’d reveal who killed him and why, but that wasn’t the case.

But this is definetly worth a watch if you are looking for a Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar-esque non-fictional zero-to-a-hundred typa story of an artist.