I am sure many of us might not even be knowing about the Indian singer and musician Amar Singh Chamkila born Dhanni Ram. A born singer, Chamkila enthralled his local audience first with engaging lyrics on hush-hush village affairs. This could be extramarital, secret desires of women, drug abuse, and local gossip bits. He soon rose to fame with the stage name Chamkila (one that glitters) and Punjabis craved his titillating lyrics and high-pitched performance. His albums still top the chart. This immortal relevance of Amar Singh Chamkila is what Imtiaz Ali brings to the screen with a loud message his directorial brilliance is back with a bang.
Chamkila remains a true artiste who believed in his talent and fans. The huge popularity he received made him very pragmatic. He never shuns that humble past but he knew being overly grounded wasn’t his future. His biggest trait was to accept him as a flawed human. Chamkila deals with such life scenarios with diplomatic ease. Knowing his market value, he barely missed a show kinda 366 shows in 365 days. The successful music couple of 1980s Punjab, Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot tirelessly moved from stage to stage in India and abroad. While, Imtiaz Ali portrays them so real on screen, Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra in their respective roles give their best. An unforgettable pair with fewer talks and winning emotions on-screen. I wonder how such subtle expressions of love and longing were captured on camera with such panache. A brilliant Parineeti Chopra as Amarjot scores full. Fell for her micro musings. Whether in graphics or photographs or on stage, Imtiaz has taken excessive care to match the late couple completely. Loved ARR tracks.

Amar Singh Chamkila also touches upon the religious rigidity and political unrest in Punjab at the time which also caused the killing of the young couple at the peak of their career. in 1988, they were gunned down at a venue they came to perform. There are some indications of the shooters behind in the film, though it remains unsolved on records.

A truthful biopic- don’t miss it.