Amar Singh Chamkira: Imtiaz Ali tried to make a movie about the murdered singer, but instead made a movie about himself | Bollywood News
For too long, in fact for almost his entire career, Imtiaz Ali’s films have been said to be too self-centered. Some of this over-seriousness affected his fans, who formed a cult so powerful that even he, as its leader, was unable to control it. But for perhaps the first time in 20 years, Ali seems to be having fun on screen. But ironically, the subject matter of his latest film, Netflix’s Amar Singh Chamkira, may be the heaviest he’s ever tackled. If ever there was a movie that needed a serious story, it’s this one. Militantness clashes with artistic integrity. freedom of expression It challenges religious intolerance by telling the story of one man’s life based on the Bible.
Amar Singh Chamkira follows the famously introspective Ali as he continues his journey, discovering new truths about the singer and, in the process, rediscovering himself. His most authentically ambitious film, Amar Singh Chamkila, reflects the resonant relevance of a Punjabi singer who is a folk hero of sorts. shot At the age of 27, he and his wife Amarjot were murdered by unknown assailants, ostensibly for corrupting society with their vulgar songs.Was he a simpleton or was he “?”Social Dalinda‘; a rebel without a cause, or ‘;Ganda sa bandha“?” The film has an outside perspective, so the drama does not flow internally from the protagonist, but is dramatized and highlighted by a group of outside observers, allowing Ali to come to his own conclusions. Before we get there, different interpretations of Chamkila’s motives are called for. Chamkila was not a rebel or a mob instigator, he said. He was just a people’s poet. And that’s when you realize that Imtiaz Ali has been making films about himself all this time.
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By leaving your old life, Autobiographical story of navel gazing, the filmmaker ironically made perhaps his most personal film to date.In addition to sharing some of Chamkira’s general insecurities as an artist, Ali appears to be projecting an expression of her own – and this is likely – Own What worries Chamkira is that even if humans exist, they are blank slates. Although his musical performances have been well documented, some of which have been spliced into films with recreations featuring stars Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, stories about Chamkila are told primarily through oral tradition. I’ve been exposed to it. And this leaves room for imagination.
Even the most casual Google search will reveal a treasure trove of interviews with men who rubbed shoulders with him during his short career, sometimes literally in the backseat of ambassador cars. There is a bitter former colleague named Tikki, who throws a brick through Chamkila’s office window because he feels ignored. There was an old songwriter pal named Swaran Sibya, and he arranged a meeting between Chamkira and him. the men who were threatening his life; There is a Dholak player named Lal Chand, who himself came close to losing his life. The day Chamkila and Amarjot were shot. At least two of them have important roles in the movie.
It hardly matters whether Amar Singh Chamkira is a factual representation of the singer’s life, but it probably isn’t. It hardly even matters whether Chamkira is good or bad. All that matters is how Ali perceives him and, by extension, himself. That’s why he doesn’t mind breaking the illusion of “reality” and is confident enough to intersperse the drama with archival footage and still images. When Mohit Chauhan looks directly into your eyes in the wonderful opening credits sequence, it’s an approach that immediately grabs your attention – the film concludes with: Breaking the wall for the fourth time Moments like this, and singing about Chamkira in grand traditional musical theater. At that moment, Amar Singh Chamkira seems possessed by the very spirit of Hamilton. And like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pioneering Broadway show, the film basically plays out like one long memorial play.
However, not all of the film’s theatrical touches are this far-fetched. When Chamkila is confronted by his father for cutting his “Kesh”, he holds up a wad of bills, which is illuminated by cinematographer Sylvester Fonseca as if lit by a “spotlight.” That silences his father. “Aur bi phaap kie hain main (I have committed more sins),” said Chamkila as she stuffed the wad into her father’s breast pocket, where the light shone again. This is where Chamkila would be shot dead a few years later. “Main bahut gandhi jaga se aaya hoon, wapas nahi jaa sakta. (I came from a terrible place, I can’t go back now),” he tells Amarjot in another scene, refusing to let go of his hard-earned fame, which has determined his fate. Ta.
Later, when Amarjot is forbidden by her family to sing her trademark innuendo-filled numbers, Chamkila tells her that their records are being sold on the black market. They earn more per show than any other artist in Punjab’s history. “Yeah, apna taim hai, lekin ek din katam ho jayega.Phir alam se bait ke sochenge kya galat hai aur kya sahi (This time is ours, but it won’t last forever. We’ll worry about right or wrong later),” Ali said on Chamkira’s behalf, perhaps due to the singer’s resilience. He found something to relate to, but also did not ignore the ambition in which Chamkila was partly driven.
In Chamkila’s world, the mere act of singing, a metaphorical stand-in for the entire art, is a sin. “Har kisi ki sahi galat sokhne ki aukad nahi hot (Not everyone has the luxury of thinking about right and wrong),” he tells a reporter in one scene, reminding her that his songs are intricately tied to his survival. He breathes life into them, and in turn his songs breathe life into him. If he ceases to create and provide, produce and pander, he ceases to exist. The constant validation has made Chamkira unstable. He is caught up in his own success and judged by a privileged few who remain disconnected from the “real” world. Ali takes up a defensive position via Chamkila. Everyone wants a piece of him, he seems to be saying.
The film, through a critical police inspector, highlights the disrespectful treatment Chamkila receives from the well-meaning arbiters she appoints. But who decides what is and isn’t art? Ali has struggled with divisive critical reception throughout her career, and she understands this sentiment all too well. But his films exceed basic barometers of quality. For example, it no longer matters whether he thinks rock stars are flawed. Fans won’t have it. And after a certain point, Chamkira comes to a similar realization. Regardless of his personal ambitions as a musician – he also had the ability to compose pious music, even with a gun to his head – he would always be a slave to his audience. There is a dramatic irony in this finding. After all, he is a Dalit.
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Chamkira was set up to fail in many ways by her fans, society, and life itself. After two hours of interesting theories about what motivated his act, Ali seemed to realize that this was a meaningless act, and did so in a way that only he, the people’s poet and countryman, could. solved the problem. ”urti khopdiMaybe an artist can do it. Realizing that she is walking like a dead person, Chamkira declares that no one can challenge her destiny and resolves to continue her acting because it is all she has. can It’s the only thing he’s ever been good at: a failed husband, a disappointing friend, and an absentee father. “Apne hai rahu se lagaya main tikka,” he sings. And in that moment, Chamkira transcends himself, his fame, and the prophetic persona he has created for himself. He is more than just a singer. He is You become a saint, a symbol, a star with unstoppable power in this world.And then you remember the words that started this legend.Chamkira, chamka aise mein, chamcham chamkira.”
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(Tag Translation) Amar Singh Chamkira
