Diljit Dosanjh In A Still From Amar Singh Chamkila As The Late Punjabi Singer ( Photo Credit – YouTube )
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Amar Singh Chamkila is getting rave reviews for being one of the best musical biopics that has come out of India. The film traced the journey of the Punjabi singer and his wife, Amarjot Kaur. However, people were surprised to see that Amarjot was the singer’s second wife.
Before hitting musical highs in the industry, Chamkila was married to a woman called Gurmail, and when the news of his second marriage broke, he was reprimanded by the Sarpanch of his village. However, the singer promised Gurmail and their son a certain amount of maintenance every month.
However, the film never shows the first wife again until his death, which might have been a creative liberty taken by Imtiaz Ali, who wanted to focus completely on the musical journey of Amar Singh Chamkila in the film. But Chamkila’s first wife, once in an interview with a Punjabi channel, spoke at length about her equation with the singer, their last meeting, and more.
Talking to Love Punjab, Gurmail asserted how her equation with Amarjot was solely because of Chamkila, and they were cordial to each other since Chamkila was fair to both his wives. She even confessed that he would bring the same gifts for both of them. Talking in Punjabi, the first wife of the late singer revealed, “Ghar aaye bande nu ta balauna hi penda. Chal koi na, bula lendi si mai ta apne gharwale karke. Sara kuch dekhna painda si. Ek-do dinaa baad Chamkila kalla vee aunda si. Ohnu (Amarjot) eke nai si naal aanda… kalla aanda see. Oh vee aa jandi si. (If someone is a guest at your home, then you have to talk to them. Also, I had to talk to her since my husband was involved. You have to take care of the dynamics. Chamkila used to visit us every one to two days. Usually, he did not bring Amarjot along, but she visited at times.)”
The Two Wives Made Meals
Gurmail, in her conversation, revealed how Amarjot and herself tried to co-exist cordially, whenever Amar Singh Chamkila and his second wife visited the first wife. She revealed, “Bali gal ki si. Mai rotia pakaun lag jandi si, oh (Amarjot Kaur) sabzi bana lendi si. Ja oh kehndi hundi, ‘Mainu sabzi nai banani aandi, mai roti lalu.’ Ohnu rotia vee nai c aandia. Rotia nu taa othe rasoiaa rakhya hoya si. Mai keha tu beh hi jaa, maai ape sara kuch karlu. (What was there to stress upon? I used to make rotis, and she made the sabzi. When she used to say that she didn’t know how to make sabzi, she would ask if she could make rotis. Honestly, she could not even make rotis. They had a cook at their place to prepare meals, so I used to tell her to relax. I used to do it all by myself.)”
The Last Meeting
In the same interview, Gurmail revealed that she met her husband two days before he was shot dead. She recalled the last meeting and said, “Amarjot and I were in the kitchen, and we watched him get drenched in the rain. I felt his face was different, I thought it had turned black. I looked at his face at different intervals, and his face continued to look black. When I saw his mortal remains, it was the same black face that I was seeing the last time I saw him.”
Amar Singh Chamkila was shot dead in Mehsampur when he was about to perform an Akhada with his wife, Amarjot Kaur. His death remains a mystery since the murderers were never identified, and Punjab Police closed the case.
