Thirty six years after his death, the life and times of the slain Punjabi folk icon Amar Singh Chamkila, famously called the ‘Elvis of Punjab’, are back under the spotlight.On Friday (April 12), biopic Amar Singh Chamkila, directed by Imtiaz Ali and starring actors Diljeet Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra in lead roles, was released on Netflix. The movie jogged memories about the story of one of the most celebrated Punjabi folk singers in the complex music macrocosm of Punjab.From 1979 to 1988, Chamkila ruled the music landscape in Punjab with songs that were a commentary on village life, drug abuse, guns, extra marital affairs, dowry, alcoholism and matters of Punjabi masculinity among others. This wasn’t like the spot on, in tune, polished folk of Gurdas Mann or the kind of gentle folk that Surinder Kaur and Asa Singh Mastana were propagating in the state and among the diaspora.AdvertisementThese songs sounded gravelly and uninhibited. But what was spot on was Chamkila’s raw yet very in...
