Amar Singh Chamkila's first wife, Gurmail Kaur, remembers the time she met Amarjot and says, 'I would make rotis, she helped me with sabzi...'

April 18, 2024 / 04:22 PM IST

The late Amar Singh Chamkila's first wife Gurmail Kaur (left).

Bollywood's latest film, 'Amar Singh Chamkila' based on the life of an ill-fated Punjabi singer, has taken the country by storm, and the actors have been showered with praise from all quarters. And with that, there is also an interest in knowing the real family of the slain Punjabi leader.

Amar Singh Chamkila, along with his wife and singer Amarjot Kaur, were gunned down by unknown men near Jalandhar in 1988.

Now, his first wife, Gurmail Kaur, spoke in a rare podcast with the Punjabi Youtube channel 'Love Punjab' where she spoke her heart out about how she met Chamkila and their married life.

Gurmail Kaur said that when she got married to Amar Singh Chamkila, he was still working in the factory. She was married to him for three years when Chamkila started showing interest in singing.

Gurmail Kaur also said that he had told her clearly that he had to sing with women in akharas and that he wanted to be a big name in the music industry.

His songs were termed vulgar, but they were still popular among the villagers in Punjab, and they were played at almost all the weddings and functions during that time.

When asked about how life was when Chamkila got married to Amarjot, she said initially that Chamkila would visit them alone, but later, hinting at Amarjot, she would also come with him and that she would help her with cooking.

"Chamkila would come alone to visit us; he never got Amarjot along with him. Later, she also started accompanying him. I would make rotis, and she would make vegetables. She didn't know how to cook anything; they had kept a cook at their place. I would tell her not to  work as I will do everything on my own," she said.

But she also revealed that the two women never fought. She said later the two were killed, and her parents took everything from the kothi (referring to the place where Amarjot and Chamkila lived).

She also said that her life after the death of her singer husband, Chamkila, was not easy. Gurmail Kaur said she had a case against her where Amarjot's family tried to prove that only she was Chamkila's wife.

She said, "We did not get any of his earnings as there was a case against us. The case went on for 15 years. They argued that Amarjot was Chamkila's wife and Gurmail Kaur's husband was dead. But later, the entire village gave their statements and said that she was Chamkila, aka Dhani Ram's first wife, and then they lost the case."

Gurmail, with moist eyes, said in the initial years when she had to go for court hearings, she had to leave one of her daughters at her parents' home.

Gurmail also revealed that she had four kids, but she lost two — one her son and another daughter — tragically. One of her daughters is married and stays in Canada.

Amar Singh Chamkila's biopic was recently released on Netflix. The movie had Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra as Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot, respectively.

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