Casting director Mukesh Chhabra and his team are behind the near-perfect ensemble of Imtiaz Ali’s Netflix movie Amar Singh Chamkila. Chhabra and his seven assistants scouted Punjab to find actors who not only looked like the original personalities attached to the protagonist but also needed to have a certain body language and dialect.
Chhabra says casting for Amar Singh Chamkila was “challenging” because it was a biopic that needed very peculiar actors with specific looks, body frames and language, but his Punjabi roots helped him. Spring Scarf
Opening up on how detailed the casting process was for the film, he said, “Till now, the films that we have done in Punjab, be it Manmarziyaan or Laal Singh Chaddha, we have done very fictional stories. But Chamkila was different. It was challenging because it was a biopic, and we had to stay true to the story and people. So while casting for it, we had to make sure that people in the film look from that era, the way they talk, walk, live their lives; it shouldn’t look like you have turned a Delhi boy into a Punjabi. So everyone we cast for the film, they are all originally from Punjab. They are from Chandigarh, from Ludhiana, Bhagwada, Bhatinda, Patiala and Jalandhar. All of them are from the Punjab belt. For me , they needed to look from where they come, their boli (accent), the diction, and their body time, which should be authentic Punjabi.”
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“All the actors in Chamkila are great actors. All of them have done some work before, maybe small roles in Punjabi films or so. I had references for all the characters, so I had to match their faces, their height, their language, and it was an interesting process for me. After Gangs Of Wasseypur, this was the first time where I needed 6 to 7 assistants because we were casting from everywhere in the Punjab belt. I even wanted the dholak player and the Bhangra group to be authentic. I had discussed with Imtiaz in the very beginning that we would be casting even for the smallest part. We often cast for the top parts and then leave it, but for Chamkila we wanted to cast every role. So we have carried out extensive auditions to find the perfect cast,” he added.
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When asked if Imtiaz Ali already had Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra in mind to play Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjyot Kaur, Mukesh Chhabra revealed, “We had an idea. Having Parineeti play Amarjot was already an idea as we were searching for someone who is from the Punjabi world, and can also sing. Diljit was an obvious choice because it is the story of a Punjabi singer. So, who better than Diljit? Before we started approaching people for casting, we were discussing so many names, but Diljit was the closest.”
Chhabra also hailed Diljit Dosanjh. He says Dosanjh, a Sardar, becoming a star, never seemed possible before. “Diljit is an actor to study and cherish. It used to be rare, but today, we have a Sardar who is a star. He has proved that a man wearing a turban can be a star in Bollywood. This has never happened before. He has brought a lot of respect to Punjabis. We are all proud of how well he is handling his career. His belief in himself, his music, and his roots is reflected in his work. He is considered one of the top stars in India today; that’s a huge achievement.”
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Mukesh Chhabra and Imtiaz Ali have been long-time collaborators. Chhabra has been casting for Ali since Love Aaj Kal (2009). After the filmmaker delivered duds like Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma’s Jab Harry Met Sejal and Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan’s Love Aaj Kal (2020), the casting director says the success of Amar Singh Chamkila feels personal to him, and is “long pending” for Ali.
He said, “I really wanted to do this for Imtiaz because it was long pending for him. The other thing is that Punjab is my world. I am originally from Punjab so I am aware of this world.”
Chabbrad added, “Imtiaz is my super senior. We were in the same theatre group and we knew each other from there. We always admired each other’s work. And the Delhi theatre culture is such that whoever is our senior, we all have mutual respect for them. And that’s why we all — Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, Swanand Kirkire, Manoj Bajpayee — have loved and appreciated each other’s work and are pillars for each other, because every Friday, films come and go, some work, some don’t, but nothing can shake the love and respect we have for each other. We trust each other’s talent. Our bond is very strong. When we started, none of us were super successful or powerful, but we all have had our journeys and have stood by each other.”
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