When Imtiaz Ali set out to make ‘Amar Singh Chamkila‘, he knew he was reconstructing a myth and a legacy that continues to pulse through Punjab. But even he wasn’t prepared for how surreal, emotional, and extraordinary the filmmaking journey would turn out to be. The film was released on Netflix on 12th April 2024 and quickly topped the global trending lists. Now with the film earning an ‘International Emmy’ nomination for ‘TV Movie/Mini Series’ and Diljit Dosanjh nominated for ‘Best Performance’, Imtiaz shares the behind-the-scenes memories that have stayed with him long after the shoot wrapped.
He goes back in time to the day the crew returned to Mehsampur to recreate the death scene of Chamkila, a moment so raw in Punjab’s collective memory that even decades later, the air around it feels altered. “We were shooting the death scene at the exact spot where Chamkila was killed,” Imtiaz recalls. “What struck all of us was how nothing had changed. The house, the patch of ground outside it, even the koti where he had eaten lunch before he was shot, everything was exactly the same after 34 years.” After gathering accounts from locals, the team located the precise point where Chamkila had collapsed! “Watching Diljit playing Chamkila shoot for the scene and fall to his death on that same spot, it was bizarre, surreal, almost unsettling,” Imtiaz admits.
Imtiaz talks about the one memory that comes to his mind every time he talks about the film, “The most unique aspect of this film was the live performances of Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti (Chopra), especially in the akhadas. For Imtiaz, who had never filmed live singing before, these scenes were a revelation. “It was challenging, but it turned into something spectacular,” he says. With live musicians onstage, and Diljit and Parineeti singing in real time before large crowds in recreated concert setups across Punjab, the energy was unmatched. Every word you hear in the film was recorded live. Nothing has been altered. The music you feel is the music we felt in that moment.”
Today, as the film stands nominated at the International Emmy Awards for TV Movie/Mini-Series and Diljit Dosanjh earns a nomination for Best Performance, the journey has come full circle. Imtiaz and Diljit have already left for New York, carrying with them not just the hopes of their team, but the spirit of Chamkila himself. The winners will be announced on 24th November at the gala ceremony in New York, but for those who lived this story behind the camera, the emotional victory was found long before the red carpet.
