

Moments in Hindi cinema: 2024
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. All films are made during the edit, but rarely is this as evident as with Imtiaz Ali’s Amar Singh Chamkila. Editor Aarti Bajaj’s work is key is to its feverish energy, turning this biopic of Punjabi folk singer Chamkila (played by Diljit Dosanjh) into an incendiary collage.
A musical montage around the halfway mark offers a particularly thrilling cascade of images. A split-screen shows crowds at a Chamkila concert, one half archival footage, the other dramatized scenes. A diamond appears in the middle of the screen, within it an emcee on stage.
Two more split screens. An argument between Chamkila’s wife and manager, quickened with two jump cuts. Still images of the group on stage.
Animation of crowds surrounding Chamkila’s car. Twelve identical thumbnail videos of the duo performing, arranged in three rows. More animation, then a split screen with animation and live action.
Blurry archival footage of the real Chamkila on stage. All of this lasts just three minutes. The sequence ends with the intertitle “1984": a tumultuous year for Punjab.
The jangled editing has already shown us a febrile, flustered world. “People also have keys." When Srinivas (Kesav Binoy Kiron) says this to his girlfriend, 18-year-old Mira (Preeti Panigrahi), in school, she doesn’t question him. But it stays with her, and later, at home, she asks him what he meant.
“It’s just understanding how people work," he says. “What they really want." Mira asks what her key is, and is pleased with the answer (“No bullshit"). Then her mother, Anila (Kani Kusruti)—who’s been charmed by Sri over the course of the film, and has become fond of him in return—asks the same question.
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