IMTIAZ ALI talks candidly about CHAMKILA: Success is about becoming a better filmmaker
In an exclusive interview with ETimes, Imtaiz Ali Imtiaz said: “Rehman sir was very keen on making an all-Punjabi album. It’s not that the songs have to be Punjabi, but the world of music is definitely Punjabi.
Recalling his first meeting with Rahman, Imtiaz shared: “In my first meeting with him, he asked me, what are we going to do differently?” So I said, What do you think we should do? So he said, can we do a musical in this style? People talk directly to the camera, they sing directly to the camera. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. Because it occurred to me that when people come to see this movie, they won’t know anything about Chamkila, and it’s the movie’s responsibility to tell people who Chamkila is. That way they can enjoy his stories and they’ll care about him. So if you see, when the movie starts, the first song, there are various people from Punjab singing directly into the camera. Some say he is a good man. Some say he is a terrible man. He’s vulgar; he’s cheap. Some people say he is the savior and so on. Thus, various concepts of life, various truths and lies, and the myth of Chamkila are revealed. So musical was the first thing he said. Then there is another song called Naram Kaalja where we see women singing this song to the camera. So we went with that style and we’re really happy with it.
“Mr. Rahman also said, let’s not make it a heavy film, which is completely consistent with my idea of not making a sad film. That’s because Chamkila’s music is never sad; he is always celebratory. So I Thought, let’s not make a sad movie and call it Chamkila. Even though the story has a lot of tragic events, it starts with the protagonist getting killed. It ends in a way that feels a little painful for them, but I wanted to follow Chamkila’s life in a happy, enjoyable way,” he concluded.
