Chamkila: Punjabi singer's family upset with director Imtiaz Ali

The daughter of slain Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila has said that the family was upset with director Imtiaz Ali for omitting her family from the movie.

Based on the life of Chamkila, the movie received acclaim from audience and fans. However, the slain singer’s oldest daughter from his first marriage Amandeep Kaur expressed dismay over leaving out her family’s story from the film, an Indian media outlet reported.

In a recent interview, Amandeep Kaur revealed that her family gave a lot of information to the director which he did not include in the film.

Chamkila’s daughter claimed that her mother Gurmail Kaur had performed the last rites of Chamkila but Imtiaz Ali opted against properly shooting the scene in the film.

Read more: Imtiaz Ali was scared of Amar Singh Chamkila’s wife?

According to Gurmail Kaur, the first wife of Chamkila, the director also did not dedicate a scene where her character could be seen crying.

“They showed everyone from Amarjot’s family, but no one from our family. My bua, chacha, no one was shown,” said Kaur. “We are upset with him. How could he do this?”

She also decried that the photos of Chamkila’s daughters were also not shown in the closing credits even after Ali met them in person for the movie.

Gurmail and Amandeep Kaur went on to add that their family was engaged in legal battles against Amarjot’s family for the slain singer’s property.

Gurmail said that they had faced difficulties throughout their lives due to the absence of a steady source of income in the house.

Amar Singh Chamkila was shot along with wife Amarjot in 1988.

The movie showed the singer’s rise to being a household name, his rags to riches ascend to interior stardom that took him mainstream all the way to Canada and the UK. The movie depicts his conflict with religious extremists.

The main character of Amar Singh Chamkila was played by Diljit Dosanjh. This is not the first time Diljit has portrayed this character. He did it first in his movie 2023 Punjabi movie by the name of Jodi. The versatile Pareeniti Chopra took on the role of his late wife Amarjot Kaur.