Imtiaz Ali has reinvented himself with ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’: AR Rahman

AR Rahman and Imtiaz Ali discuss their combustible partnership of many years and creating a fully Punjabi album for ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’

Once sage and wide-eyed disciple, AR Rahman and Imtiaz Ali have drawn closer over the years. It is now an easy, open friendship, they reassure us, as we settle down to discuss their latest collaboration, Amar Singh Chamkila. Few prospects in contemporary Hindi cinema are as readily exciting as an Imtiaz-Rahman team-up. Their last was Tamasha (2015), a well-loved romance with an enduring soundtrack, and before that Highway (2014) and the angsty, iconic Rockstar (2011). Like the ringleader of a thrilling heist, Imtiaz has assembled the old crew for Chamkila — besides Rahman, lyricist Irshad Kamil and singer Mohit Chauhan have jammed on the album.

Set in the tumultuous 80s, the musical biopic stars Diljit Dosanjh as legendary Punjabi folk singer Amar Singh Chamkila. Parineeti Chopra essays Chamkila’s wife and singing partner Amarjot. Known for his frank, playful lyrics that cast an uncanny spell over the masses, Chamkila was slain, along with Amarjot, by unidentified gunmen in Mehsampur in Punjab in 1988. Their deaths have remained a mystery, though one theory holds they were killed by Sikh separatists.

Here, Rahman and Imtiaz discuss their combustible partnership and finding the sound of Chamkila.

Excerpts from an interview....

ARR: A sense of mischief or naughtiness is there in all of us. Without humour, life will be boring. When Imtiaz approached me for this film, I told him Chamkila’s songs already existed. What am I going to do? So I came up with the idea of making it like a Broadway musical, with people passing comments on Chamkila’s life and music like they do today on YouTube. All the gossip could become a song.

Imtiaz Ali: Irshad Kamil, who is from Punjab, had exposed me to naughty Punjabi lyrics over the years. Interestingly, most of them turned out to be female songs. For instance, the track Naram Kaalja is derived from an old traditional Punjabi song that goes, mera naram kaalja tarpe (‘my soft heart quivers’). I liked it because Chamkila too sang naughty and mischievous songs that explained why he was so popular with women. Women, even more than men, have always enjoyed ribaldry in traditional music. This is true not only of Punjab but many places in the world, especially in wedding songs.

ARR: Rukmani Rukmani from Roja (1992) is another example.