The Mastery Of Imtiaz Ali Over Gender & Caste Issues In Chamkila

Ever since the movie Chamkila came out, it has been the talk of the town with social media timelines flooding with fan edits of Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra. Ardent fans of Imtiaz Ali are comparing the maestro’s work with his previous cult favourites Tamasha and Rockstar dealing with similar thematic representations on screen- the tortured artist, his passionate story of loving a woman, his struggle, and finally his emancipation from the worldly shackles of society.

The two films, that have garnered Ali his present status, appeal to the masses because of their obvious relatability with the urban middle class and their capitalistic cosmopolitan realities caging them. What greeted us this time was a gust of fresh air in the form of a mainstream Bollywood director tackling the caste question with such nuance and sensitivity. 

Why Films Addressing Deep-Rooted Gender & Caste Issues Matter

The film introduces Dhanni Ram as a Chamar in the first five minutes and revisits this identity throughout the film. Amar Singh Chamkila was a Chamar from Punjab who went against every force to emerge as a star, emerge as someone who the masses could relate to. A dialogue in the movie brings out very subtly this claim of mine. During an “akhara” or a show, a member of the audience shouts, ‘Honge baki kalakar achhe, par tu toh apna hai Chamkile!’ (‘These other artists might be good, but you are our own Chamkila!). A state with 32% of the entire population belonging to the Chamar community, witnessed a mammoth rise of one man from the lowest rungs of the society to the very top. 

The story of Chamkila reveals the brutal murder of the man due to his work. The nation claimed that it was exactly what gave rise to him that got him killed. His songs vividly described, almost in a pornographic manner, the everyday sexual actuality of his surroundings. There was moral policing that trickled down from the houses of upper-caste residents of the state. It was unacceptable that an artist was getting celebrated for bringing out in the open, the truth.

While the reason for these criticisms might seem to be the objectification of women on the surface as mentioned in an interview scene of the movie, it runs much deeper. It was repeatedly disclosed in the movie that the popularity of Chamkila’s songs and his technique of writing crowd-pulling lyrics were often copied by other artists of the time, but whether they were killed for it remains to be explored. The murder of Chamkila was, if put in plain words, a message to the people of his community to not forego their caste positionality; it was a reminder to stay oppressed and embrace their ‘aukaat’. 

Chamkila’s fanbase included scores of women, from all age brackets, who enjoyed his songs. His songs were a gateway for them to own their sexuality, and to feel included in a world where they had no right to feel pleasure. A Punjabi lyric from the movie went, ‘You think it is for your pleasure, but it really is for mine’ and was sung by an old woman clad in white.

This violation of upper-caste norms of morality by women was seen as a direct result of Chamkila’s songs by the men in that society. He was coerced into fitting into these codes of conduct and stopped producing songs of that genre. When this did not affect the prevalence and popularity of these songs and they remained a symbol of defiance for the women, Chamkila had to get killed to stop the ripple of revolution. 

While supporting Chamkila in no way means justifying objectification, it is a call to question the fact that if an entire community can be dehumanized to carry out the harshest jobs, why can they not be allowed to simply deliver what the audience demands and in turn use it as a ladder to climb the social and material hierarchies imposed on them? Chamkila’s death is still being misinterpreted as one where the artist was killed due to objectifying women.

Chamkila birthed a revolution that addressed much broader issues of purity, pollution, and gender. He was seen as unbearable not only because his lyrics were graphic, but also because he was a Dalit man who dared to transcend the boundaries of his generational occupation and inspired an entire generation to question the golden rules of upper caste righteousness. 

The movie is being glorified because of its brilliant music and cinematography and an ever-energizing and passionate plot, as it should, but the urban audience still misses the caste politics that Imtiaz Ali portrays in such an intriguing manner. The limited few who have started to question the role of caste in art due to the movie had to wait for a director who could make the caste question digestible for them, who would show it in a way that does not seem very apparent at first.

The reality is that our urban youth is not ready for a story that truly translates the gory truths of caste in every aspect of our lives and can only try to question the mechanism if it fits into their aesthetic of violence. Imtiaz Ali has gifted us a real masterpiece that is way ahead of its time. 

Views expressed are the author's own.

Authored By Debarati Mitra, M.A Sociology, Ambedkar University Delhi.