Amar Singh Chamkila, along with his wife Amarjot, was fatally shot in 1988, and the circumstances surrounding their deaths remain unresolved.
Amar Singh Chamkila and his singer wife, Amarjot Kaur, were assassinated on March 8, 1988, outside an event they were scheduled to perform at. The circumstances surrounding their deaths remain unresolved, with little information available about their assailants. Director Kabir Singh Chowdhry, known for the mockumentary “Mehsampur,” claims to have encountered one of the alleged perpetrators during his research. Although he gained some understanding of the potential motives behind Amar Singh Chamkila’s murder, he cautioned against placing too much emphasis on this encounter. Kabir Singh Chowdhry mentioned in a recent interview that while pursuing Chamkila’s story in Punjab, he came into contact with one of the surviving individuals involved in the assassination. However, he emphasized that his insights should be viewed with caution.
During that era, Punjab was marked by chaos and lawlessness, where hiring gunmen for illicit purposes was not uncommon. It was a time characterized by settling personal scores through violence, with individuals often resorting to hiring others to carry out their illicit tasks. In such a volatile environment, concepts of retribution and reasoning often took a backseat to the ruthless pursuit of power and dominance. The motives behind Amar Singh Chamkila’s assassination, whether driven by professional envy, caste-based discrimination, opposition to his style of music, or other unknown factors, remain to be courageously uncovered.
Amar Singh Chamkila’s life and death have once again gained attention, notably due to Imtiaz Ali’s biopic released on Netflix last week, starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra. The film has garnered significant praise.