Chamak review: Paramvir Singh Cheema shines in this compelling revenge saga centred on Punjabi music industry

Created and Directed By: Rohit Jugraj

Cast: Paramvir Singh Cheema, Isha Talvar, Manoj Pahwa, Mohit Malik, Suvinder Vicky, Mukesh Chhabra, Akasa Singh, Gippy Grewal

Where to watch: SonyLIV

Rating: 3 stars

Taking inspiration from the murders of Punjabi music artistes Amar Singh Chamkila and Sidhu Singh Moosewala, Chamak follows Paramvir Singh Cheema as Kaala aka Kulwinder Singh Gill, who is investigating his parents' assassination. A musical drama-cum-revenge saga, the show created, directed and co-written by Rohit Jugraj is an engrossing watch.

Kaala is a convict who flees from Canada to his homeland Punjab, and is declared a reverse Dunki case (we are going to hear this word a lot this month it seems). He learns that his father was a celebrated musician Tara Singh Gill (Gippy Grewal in a special appearance), who was assassinated along with his mother Navpreet Kaur, at a stage show 30 years ago. Kaala must now navigate underbelly of the Punjabi music industry and bring the perperators to justice.

What works for Chamak is its ability to blend a compelling musical drama with thrilling elements. The show keeps you invested in the characters through their sincere performances by a strong ensemble, brought together by the casting director Mukesh Chhabra, who himself plays a film producer named Dimpy Grewal. Paramvir Singh Cheema, who impressed the audiences in the highly underrated 2021 SonyLIV show Tabbar, carries Chamak entirely on his shoulders. As the show progresses with each episode, his performance also shines more and more. 

Spanning across six episodes, Chamak's storytelling is quite engaging but it also deviates a lot from the core story. The narrative has too many subplots and a couple of them could have easily been edited out. Like in one of the scenes, Mohit Malik's gay character Guru Deol says, "Have you noticed all these OTT plaform shows have one LGBT character these days? Some are normal, some are desperate attempts, and some are forced. I feel the same in this house." We feel the same for him in this show.

Chamak also suffers from the problem of too many characters jumbled up together and sometimes, it gets difficult to fit in the pieces of puzzle together to follow each of their motives and stories. Also, the show invests a lot of screentime in Kaala's underwhelming romance with Jasprit Narula and Lata Brar (played by Isha Talvar and Akasa Singh respectively).

The SonyLIV show is essentially a musical with as many as 14 artistes coming together to create an eclectic soundtrack consisting of 28 songs, all rooted in Punjabi culture. The show also gets help from the special appearances by MC Square, Mika Singh, Malkit Singh, Asees Kaur, Shashwat Singh, and Afsana Khan. But still, I didn't find the entire Chamak album reaching the heights of what Amit Trivedi and Kausar Munir created for Vikramaditya Motwane's Jubilee earlier this year.

Apart from Paramvir's breakthough performance, the show is held together by brilliant performances from Manoj Pahwa and Suvinder Vicky. Pahwa is entertaining as Pratap Singh Deol, who runs the Punjabi music empire with his company Teeja Sur. Vicky, whose leading act in the Punjabi crime thriller series Kohrra this year was highly acclaimed, continues with another earnest performance as a music icon Jugal Brar. 

Chamak is an honest and noble effort in its attempt to provide an insight into the Punjabi music industry. The show ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the audiences waiting for the next part/season. I sincerely hope the storytelling gets better and shines more, just as like its title. Chamak is streaming on SonyLIV.