Cousins In Resilience: Laal Singh Chaddha, Amar Singh Chamkila And Their Songs Of History

While it might seem that not much is common between the two films beyond being titled after their eponymous protagonists, there is more here than meets the eye. Aamir Khan plays the titular Laal바카라�a Sikh man바카라�for the first time in his career, while Diljeet Dosanjh바카라�a Punjabi singer-superstar바카라�appears without his turban in Chamkila. Both actors have been invested in the cultural ethos of Punjab in Hindi cinema바카라�Khan in Rang De Basanti (2006) and Dosanjh in Punjabi films as well as Phillauri (2017). Imtiaz Ali, who directed Chamkila, has provided us with a regular dose of 바카라�Punjabiyat바카라� in films like Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017), perhaps more than any other contemporary Bollywood director. This investment in 바카라�Punjabiyat바카라� is evident most powerfully in these films바카라� use of Punjabi music, where they draw from a rich repository of folk traditions. Laal Singh Chaddha (a remake of the American blockbuster Forrest Gump) and Amar Singh Chamkila are interested in the intertwining of myths and histories in Punjab. They depict how Punjab can be, not just a space of buoyance, but a lens to view the Indian State itself. The antecedent to these films is Gulzar바카라�s Maachis (1996), set against the backdrop of Punjab바카라�s struggles with militancy. Maachis, too, uses songs to mythologize its narrative. In Laal바카라� and Chamkila, songs anchor their narratives within broader storytelling structures as well as the specific history of Punjab.

Advait Chandan바카라�s Laal Singh Chaddha begins with the song 바카라�Kahaani바카라�바카라�a white feather floating and gliding through the skies and into a railway station, being pushed and pulled in several directions by a ceiling fan, a broom, a moving train and a food vendor before eventually landing at the feet of the turban-wearing Sikh protagonist, Laal Singh Chaddha (Aamir Khan). This opening sequence acts as an allegory for the rest of the film, where Laal바카라� as he lives through major events in the next four decades바카라� often finds himself in situations beyond his control. He lives through these events like a feather, with its grace intact. He doesn바카라�t bring about any significant change but exists nonetheless as a feather that can바카라�t be explained or altered, that will find a way to float. The lyrics of the song say 바카라�Kya pata hum mein hai kahaani ya hain kahaani mein hum바카라� (what do we know if we are in the story, or the story is within us).

In contrast, Amar Singh Chamkila literally begins with a bang바카라�the murder of the singer duo Chamkila (Diljeet Dosanjh) and his wife Amarjot (Parineeti Chopra) 바카라�which leads into the song 바카라�Baj Baaja바카라�. This pacy song cements the position of Chamkila as a myth, as different kinds of people try and define what he did and what kinds of songs he wrote. It is interspersed with sequences of Chamkila바카라�s childhood, where he keeps noticing a strong undercurrent of sexual desire lurking in the villages of Punjab. Unlike the sweet melody of 바카라�Kahaani바카라�, 바카라�Baj Baaja바카라� is a cantankerous beginning that foregrounds the persistent violence in Punjab during the height of militancy in the 1980s. The song ends with the working classes and women occupying the screen in numbers. They sing praises of the singer who made desire publicly accessible and acceptable, unlike those who claimed his songs were obscene.

Both Laal and Chamkila are not aggressively assertive characters. They mostly go where life takes them and follow what others tell them바카라�be it Laal joining the Army or Chamkila having to listen to managers, militants and religious orthodoxy. But they eventually decide to check out and be true to who they are. Coincidentally, this is realised through song sequences in both films.

In Laal바카라�, the Sufi song 바카라�Tur Kalleyan바카라� (trans: Walk Alone) follows Laal while he runs through the length and breadth of India as years pass him by. Ultimately, he says he바카라�s tired, but by this time his hair has grown and so has his beard. In an earlier sequence set during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, his hair is chopped off by his mother with a piece of broken glass to prevent his identification as a Sikh by an angry, riotous mob. Post 바카라�Tur Kalleyan바카라�, he ties his hair in a pagdi as 바카라�Ik Onkar바카라�바카라�a Sikh religious composition바카라�plays over the sequence. This sequence denotes Laal바카라�s acceptance of an identity that was forcibly taken from him. The lyrics of 바카라�Tur Kalleyan바카라� expound the value of the individual, exemplified by the stanza 바카라�bani hijr mein raataan angeethiyaan, bata koyle warga jalbhun kar tenu ki mileya바카라� (trans: your nights have become like braziers because of separation, what have you gained by burning like coal). While the immediate reason for his run is his separation from his lover Rupa (Kareena Kapoor Khan), the song charts Laal바카라�s journey as he learns to let go and live life by appreciating small things, the diversity of our country, the wonders that nature beholds. But unlike a similar sequence in Forrest Gump where the run through America mostly plays out comically, 바카라�Tur Kalleyan바카라� is sombre and reflective, befittingly ending on the banks of Varanasi바카라�signalling a change in government in 2014. Making Laal a religious minority, when translating from Forrest Gump, adds an additional melancholic tone to the film, but not a defeatist one. Laal emerges as a figure of quiet resilience in violent times.

Chamkila, on the other hand, chooses to be less quiet. The song 바카라�Ishq Mitaaye바카라� captures the explosion in his popularity as things take a turn for the worse in 1980s Punjab. With visuals of militancy and of the brutal suppression of it by the Indian State sliced in, the song features Kumud Mishra, appearing in a cameo, stating, 바카라�When there바카라�s crisis in the world, people crave entertainment even more.바카라� The lyrics of the song go 바카라�Long live the fire inside me, let it burn and create new life. I emerge from the fire shining bright, my spirit will shine through.바카라� Archival footage from 1980s Punjab, featuring protestors throwing stones at the police바카라�as it shoots tear gas at them바카라� is juxtaposed with people dancing at Chamkila바카라�s performances, both actual and recreated. This leads into the refrain 바카라�Main hun Panjab바카라� (I am Punjab) 바카라� a phrase that bellows with the contradictions and energies that Punjab was producing and still produces. Chamkila바카라�s resilience is loud, garish, and militant. It cannot be contained, which is why it is extinguished with bullets, and his murder unresolved.

Laal and Chamkila, therefore, share contrasting relationships with fire. The former expresses ambivalence about making noise in the face of violence but lives with dignity nonetheless; the latter tries to drown out the noise of violence with his music. Ironically, the films바카라� off-screen lives invited the exact opposite response. Laal바카라� faced the triple whammy of boycott calls, mixed reviews and poor box office, while ...Chamkila바카라�a film explicitly about censorship바카라�released on Netflix without much controversy and with praise from both audiences and critics. Nevertheless, both these films are significant additions to the evolution of Punjabi culture in popular Hindi cinema. As the prelude to 바카라�Baj Baaja바카라� says, 바카라�Chahe koi sajde karda, ya tumbi te gaave, wakhra wakhra sabda rasta, ek manzil te jaave바카라� (Whether someone prays, or sings, all have their own paths, but their destination is the same).

Piyush Chhabra is a Ph.D Scholar of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He works on the entanglements between law and different media forms.