April 29 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Imtiaz Ali has been basking in the positive reception of his latest release Amar Singh Chamkila. In a recent interview with Zoom, however, the director revealed that he was doubtful only about how the film would be received by those who knew the real-life Punjabi singer, especially his first wife. He even thought that Chamkila’s first wife would attack him.
What Imtiaz said
In the interview, Imtiaz said: “Chamkila’s family was at the screening. His first wife Gurmail Kaur was there. Amarjot and Chamkila’s son Jaiman Chamkila was there. Chamkila’s daughters were also there. When I was watching the film, his first wife was sitting right next to me and I was thinking that there are some sensitive scenes in the film, should I just pull back or go back before she attacks me or something like that? But when the screening got over, she hugged me and everybody was so happy with the way that Chamkila was portrayed because we were hoping that they like it.”
‘I have not whitewashed Chamkila’
He further added that he presented the character of Chamkila as he was. “I have not whitewashed Chamkila because that was the point of making the film. He has done a lot of things that can be judged but I let it be like that in the film and it’s actually credit to the family that they understood it. They knew that it’s factual and they did not stop me in any way,” he said.
Amar Singh Chamkila is based on the real-life story of the Punjabi singer and his wife who were assassinated at a young age. Diljit Dosanjh played the character of Chamkila whereas Parineeti Chopra played his singer-wife Amarjot. The film has been produced by Mohit Choudhary, Select Media Holdings LLP, Saregama, and Window Seat Films. It released on Netflix on April 12.
