NOOB FILM REVIEW - AMAR SINGH CHAMKILA directed by Imtiaz Ali (Netflix)
SYNOPSIS (Netflix)
Loosely inspired by true events, this drama tells of a story of Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila with original songs from Oscar winner A R Rahman.
SYNOPSIS (imdb)
Follows the life of pop star duo Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot Kaur, whose songs that were social commentaries or devotionals became massive hits in the 80's.
REVIEW
This is indeed a Hindi biopic yet Imtiaz Ali cleverly showed it in flashbacks from Chamkila's closest acquaintances after his death. Like the recent film Anwar, this could be historically inaccurate thus it is more of a fiction instead of a full biography.
And a stoic one too! The film starts with the assasination of the main protagonist (Chamkila and his wife) And it is followed by a cheerful musical intro, whilst displaying the images of masculinity of the Punjabis.
The director shows the archetype accurately - Man, husband and wives. Mothers and religious leaders. Establishing and sharing to the viewers the very social structure in the film, just for them to understand the conflicts that is going to take place.
I think what Imtiaz wants to say in this film is how the ones in power have little or no understanding of what art represents. The songs that Chamkila performs are being labelled as vulgar and dirty by them. Yet most of his songs satires and celebrate the love in the society.
It is ironic that the Punjabi religious militants are making noise about "vulgarity" whilst they go around killing people. There is that saying that 'there is one in every society'. In this country is the same. They're just concerned about short skirts and Bah Kut Teh while legalizing every sorts of corruption.
Similarly in the recent Malaysian film La Luna, when it is a place selling women bras are taken as threat to the religion but turn blind eyes on domestic violence and corruption. It is not so shocking that some reviews of La Luna can only see the bras and the so called 'Liberisme' agendas and cannot see beyond turbans and robes.
Like how Sophia Loren said it, "Film is just a mirror of the society we live in." also what you say about film talks more of yourself than the film.
As in La Luna where the guys in turbans are not happy at seeing other people happy, it is the same in Chamkila. There is a scene where the crowd is talking about the vulgarity in the songs and one old lady jumps in and said, it is normal as we all have done in the old days it anyways.
There are differences between vulgarism and voyeurism I think. And listening to Chamkila's songs, it is mostly just artful voyeurism. While vulgarity is on a totally different level.
The scene of the dead body of Chamkila and his wife are shown once in a while from the beginning to the end. In the final scene, Imtiaz shows Chamkila's performance on the projected screen whilst the crowd are dancing with it. Immortality. The militant can kill the body but not the spirit of it. Imtiaz started the film with a death scene and closes it with a 'resurrections' one.
This one is beautifully shot, with beautiful songs to pair with it and a great tribute to an artist of the people. Currently showing on Netflix