Amar Singh Chamkila
(2024)

Amar Singh Chamkila 🪕

The star power of singer/songwriter Diljit Dosanjh continues to grow as he teams up with director Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met, 2007) in a biopic based on the legendary Punjabi singer, Chamkila, who was shot dead alongside his wife at the young age of 27.

Netflix’s Amar Singh Chamkila takes us through the tumultuous life of the songwriter turned performer, who took the state of Punjab by storm, becoming the highest-selling artist, whom many have proclaimed the ‘Elvis of Punjab’.

His sexually suggestive song lyrics were a hit across all genders, castes, and generations, but in a culture riddled with hypocrisy came threats for his art to change, as the cost of not changing them would be his life.

After finding his way out of the confines that the caste system held him in, he was now stuck between choosing the music he devoted his entire life to or bowing down to people who claim to be ‘protecting the integrity of their society’.

I went into this completely blind, not familiar with any of Chamkila’s work, but I found myself completely immersed in his rise to fame and impressed with the direction style of Imtiaz Ali, which lent itself well to the vocally reliant performances of both Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra.

This being released two years after the assassination of the generational talent that was Punjabi-rapper Sidhu Moose Wala makes this as timely as any watch can be.

For reference, songs like Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s WAP, Lil Kim’s Not Tonight, or anything by Too Short, Chamkila was exactly what those songs were, but in more of a traditional folk style.

He was definitely controversial for his time, but the ridiculousness behind the agenda against him, as if his lyrics weren’t a microcosm of what was going on behind closed doors, was frustrating to watch.

A lot of what was happening felt like gossiping village folk who are looking for something to be upset about because they have nothing going on in their own lives, so instead of living for something, they choose to pick and probe at the lives of others to bring them down.

It’s cool to see the growth of the genre and how, at one point, the politics in small villages hindered and put limits on artists, and now you have Punjabi singers mainstaging at Coachella and getting recognized at the Junos.

As a watch, the pacing is like any other music biopic; you’ll have bouts of whiplash as it highlight reels through the origin story, but once you get about halfway through, you’ll begin to settle into the uncontrollable events that led to Chamkila’s untimely demise.

27 is a haunting number for many talented artists; you have Jimi Hendrix, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse (who also has a biopic coming out this year), all of whom also passed away at the young age of 27.

Some were self-inflicted; others, you're left wondering what the cause was; in Chamkila’s case, it was sadly as simple as letting “shooters, shoot and singers, sing".

Amar Singh Chamkila is a defeating story of an artistic mind who understood “the world doesn’t run on reason, it just runs,"  which is captured admirably through the integral performance of Diljit Dosanjh.

Enjoy!

7.8/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 2hrs25mins
Where: Now Streaming on Netflix.

Amar Singh Chamkila Review (2024) The Richmond Reviewer -  April 15th, 2024.

#Movie #MovieReview #DiljitDosanjh #Chamkila #Punjabi #Punjab #Bollywood