It’s quite common these days for an actor to come up with a story for a film. The latest entrant to this creative breed is Kunal Kapoor, who established himself as an actor with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti. However, unlike other actors who take credit for regular commercial fare, Kapoor’s story is based on Chamkila, a popular musician in Punjab in the 1980s, who was assassinated.
Tentatively titled Chamkila, the film will be directed by Navdeep Singh, who won critical acclaim for Manorama Six Feet Under, featuring Abhay Deol, Gul Panag and Raima Sen.
Getting started
Confirming the news, Kapoor said, “I was shooting in Punjab when I heard someone talking about Chamkila. I was curious and found out more. I felt it was an interesting story. I called Navdeep and discussed the idea. It excited him and he agreed to direct it. Another friend, Nilesh Dadich, whom I’ve known since the time I worked as an assistant to Rakeysh, is producing it.”
Singh admits that it was natural that the actor would play the lead in this movie. “Besides, he makes for a good Punjabi guy,” he enthuses. On further probing, he concedes, “It’s about a young Punjabi musician, played by Kunal. He’s a huge fan of Chamkila, and one day, something happens which changes his life.”
Despite the strong Punjabi flavour, Singh is certain that Chamkila will not be a standard Punjabi musical. When questioned if he will also shoot some portions in London and Canada, because a lot of Punjabis travel to those parts, Singh asserts, “Although the film will have a Punjabi setting, it will not be commercial, but more real.”
Reality check
Says Kapoor, “Every time you visualise Punjab in Hindi films, it’s portrayed in a typical way. We’ll explore the underbelly of Punjab, that is grungier and has never been seen before in our movies. There’s a lot more to Punjab than just the music that you hear in Hindi films.”
Amit Trivedi, who shot to fame with Dev D, has been signed to compose the soundtrack for Chamkila. And he’s already travelled to Punjab to get new voices for his compositions. “We’re looking for one male and one female voice.
But it’s also possible that we might make Kunal sing if we don’t get the kind of voices we’re looking for. We’ll train him,” says Singh.
Kapoor, however, has no idea about his director’s plans for him. “I just want to act in the film,” he asserts.
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Kunal Kapoor plays a singer
Manorama Six Feet Under director Navdip Singh’s film Chamkila hasn’t gone on the floors yet, but the movie’s lead actor, Kunal Kapoor, has already been asked to enroll himself in singing classes to lend authenticity to his role. Kapoor plays a singer who’s a fan of Punjab’s renowned singer, Amar Singh Chamkila, who was assassinated in 1988.
Amit Trivedi, who is composing music for the movie, says, “We’ve asked Kunal to learn how to sing, since it will do justice to his character of a folk singer. With someone else’s voice, I may end up looking unreal.” But Trivedi maintains that Kapoor will be asked to sing for the movie only if he’s unable to find any folk singer whose voice would suit his persona. In fact, the composer, who has given music for Dev D and Aamir, recently spent a week in Punjab with lyricist Shellee to look for folk singers with a voice that will suit the actor’s character in the movie.
“We auditioned singers in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and in many villages in Punjab to find raw, rustic, Punjabi ki mitti voices,” says the composer. “We unearthed some real gems and heard some pure, raw sons of our soil sing brilliant folk [songs]— the kind that’s unfortunately dying these days.”
The composer was also impressed with the sound of traditional folk instruments. “It was a rare phenomena to hear such instruments live, which are on the verge of extinction. Like, there’s an instrument called ‘algoza’, which has a sound similar to playing two flutes at the same time — it hasn’t been heard of in Bollywood. Today, everyone wants to take up a guitar and be a rockstar and such instruments are dying out,” he rues. Trivedi plans to use such instruments in Chamkila as well as upcoming projects.
But even though the composer-lyricist duo found voices of great potential, none of them matched in texture with Kapoor’s voice. Trivedi will keep the playing field wide open.
“I found a singer called Major Khan whose voice seemed to fit, but when I heard his recordings back here, it didn’t excite me as much,” rues the composer. “But I did find a Rajasthani folk group and a Punjabi band that I may invite to Mumbai soon. As of now, the search is still on.”
I PERSONALY BELIEVE AMAR ARSHI SHOULD BE THE SINGER, AS I BELIEVE HIS VOICE WILL FIT WELL WITH CHAMKILA SONGS
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