Amar Singh Chamkila

Name: Amar Singh Chamkila
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Genre: Drama
Released: 2024-04-12
Rating: 3
Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Parineeti Chopra, Nisha Bano, Rahul Mittra

Directed by Imtiaz Ali

TezScore60/100 Mixed Early coverage · 1 scored of 2 Indian-media reviews How TezScore works IMDb 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes 88%

146 min 12 Apr 2024

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Synopsis

Amar Singh Chamkila

A humble singer's brash lyrics ignite fame and fury across Punjab as he grapples with soaring success and brutal criticism before his untimely death. Amar Singh, born in a Ravidassia Dalit Sikh family in Punjab was working in a socks manufacturing factory (much to his dismay) as a teenager, whereas his heart and soul were wrenched in creating music. He finally chose to break the shackles and started building contacts with musicians in the state with the help of his acquaintances. He started working under a known musician and singer Jatinder Jinda (Surinder Shinda), who acknowledged his talent and began to use his lyrics in his songs (without giving any credit to Amar Singh). As a blessing in disguise, he got a chance to sing in place of Jinda as he was late and the public went berserk with Amar Singh's performance (the name "Chamkila" was first associated with him at this event) to the extent that they did not want to listen to the lead singer Jinda anymore, such was the power of his voice and lyrics. The rest of the movie follows his life's journey after that event including his unsolved assassination.

Director: Imtiaz Ali
Release: 12 Apr 2024
Run time: 146 min
Language: Hindi

Cast & crew

Diljit Dosanjh Cast

Parineeti Chopra Cast

Nisha Bano Cast

Rahul Mittra Cast

Imtiaz Ali Director, Writer, Producer

A. R. Rahman Composer

Reviews

Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.

Critics' consensus

Mixed

Across 2 available source-linked Indian-media reviews for Amar Singh Chamkila, reception is mixed. The scored review is 60/100.

IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes are reference ratings and are not counted as Indian-media reviews.

Best forViewers looking for drama and biography in Hindi cinema.

Reception Order

All 2 reviews shown

The Indian Express Shubhra Gupta

★★★★★ ★★★★★ 3/5

Through the music, and through Dosanjh’s lived-in act, we get a powerful, moving portrait of an artiste who lived and died by his beliefs.

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Rediff Sukanya Verma

Amar Singh Chamkila's social commentary comes alive in its musical elegy for a ribald rebel. Brimming in exuberant covers of his original numbers, performed in person by its leads, the biopic finds its alter ego in Irshad Kamil's kaleidoscopic song writing. Capturing an artist's gift to articulate his dirtiest desires before a sexually repressed crowd and say it like it is, the curse of censorship versus the demands of fans where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't and complexities of making music in the time of militancy, serve as a standalone movie. Composer A R Rahman is happy to accommodate the zeal of his many, many beautiful words in beats so sublime they do perfect justice to Punjab's fabled Elvis Presley. Amar Singh Chamkila streams on Netflix.

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