Parineeti practised rigorously to sing the high notes in Chamkila: Imtiaz

Imtiaz Ali recently appeared on the IMDb original series ‘On The Scene’ to discuss his newly-released biographical directorial, Amar Singh Chamkila. The movie is based on the real-life pop star duo Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot Kaur, whose songs became massive hits in the 80s. The director shared interesting insights about the movie, including how he convinced Diljit Dosanjh to play Chamkila, the challenges Parineeti Chopra faced in recreating Amarjot’s music, and much more.

When asked what draws him towards actors who are artists, the director replied, “There have been artists in my films. I don’t know whether I do it because I am a writer and director. But I also feel interested in the lives of those people who don’t toe the line, so to speak, and they do something unexpected that makes their lives more dramatic for cinema.”

When asked how he convinced Diljit to play Chamkila, considering he had already portrayed a character based on him before, Ali said, “When I spoke to him, I assumed that since he is a musician, he would have heard about Chamkila from his childhood, especially being from the same area as Chamkila. So he knew everything about Chamkila. When I spoke to him for the first time, I found out that he had already made a film loosely inspired by Chamkila’s life events. However, I had specific knowledge because I had conducted thorough research. I listened to stories and met people who knew Chamkila and Amarjot 36 years ago when they were alive. I met Tikki, who played the dholak and was Chamkila's close friend. He was a mercurial character who greatly influenced Chamkila.”

Ali further added, “I met Tikki several times. He became emotional and shared things with me that he later regretted or corrected. This was because I met him on multiple occasions. He even mentioned that he had cursed Chamkila to die. So for me, research involved meeting the people Chamkila had encountered, visiting places where Chamkila had lived, such as the office space in Ludhiana where all the artists and singers congregated. As my interest grew, I met more people in Punjab. It's interesting because Chamkila had a knack for entertaining the masses, and understanding what works with the masses is a quality all artists and filmmakers would love to possess.”

When asked about the challenges Parineeti Chopra faced in recreating Amarjot’s music, Imtiaz Ali remarked, “Chamkila’s compositions are always very high pitched, so for a woman to match that was extremely difficult. When a woman and a man sing at the same note and scale, it becomes more difficult for the woman because her voice is thinner, and Amarjot’s parts were sometimes composed even higher by Chamkila. In real life, Amarjot had a problem singing on such high notes. Parineeti Chopra faced a similar challenge in the film, where she had to sing very high all the time, which is quite difficult. She's primarily an actor, not a professional singer, so she practised rigorously. We also enlisted the help of a singing diction teacher named Kittu from Ludhiana, Chamkila's hometown, who trained both Parineeti and Diljit. We knew they would be singing live, so we ensured they were well-prepared.”