SHINING BRIGHT

ROHIT JUGRAJ CHAUHAN IS IN THE NEWS RIGHT NOW FOR DIRECTING CHAMAK, WHICH TAKES A DARK LOOK AT THE GLITTER BENEATH THE PUNJABI MUSIC INDUSTRY. THE DIRECTOR CHATS WITH DEVESH SHARMA ABOUT MAKING A COMEBACK TO THE PAN-INDIAN SCENE AND MORE...

Rohit Jugraj Chauhan's musical series Chamak, which has been making waves, is said to be a homage to the various Punjabi music artistes the director has grown up watching. The series features 15 songs performed by 14 artists, including Gippy Grewal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Mika Singh, Afsana Khan, Asees Kaur and MC Square, among others. Ask him about the feasibility of making a pan-Indian series about Punjabi music and the director says he was always sure his passion project will be liked by all. "I was sure that the whole of India and Indians outside India would lap up the content.

Punjabi music has received so much love over the years. We have never attended a party or wedding without a Punjabi song playing. Diljit Dosanjh even performed at Coachella. The audience there was grooving to his beats, even if they didn't understand the lyrics. If there is so much deep love for Punjabi music everywhere, irrespective of the language, then why will the audience not want to know the reality of the industry?," he questions. He could have made a film on the subject but chose to make a series. Probe him further and he says that some subjects lend themselves more to long-form. "Maybe Sanjeev Reddy Vanga should have made Animal into a series," he grins.

While some say Chamak is directly inspired by the lives of Amar Singh Chamkila and Sidhu Moosewala, who were killed in 1988 and 2022, respectively, the director says it's not the case. "Only now do we get to hear about Sidhu Moosewala, Amar Singh Chamkila, there have been many artistes in Punjab like this, who have given up their lives for the sake of art." Bizarrely, a week before the release of the series, Punjabi singer and actor Gippy Grewal, who plays the role of Taara Singh, was targeted in an attack on his house in Canada.