Rohit Jugraj: Had reached out to Sidhu bhai for a cameo

Updated On: 24 November, 2023 02:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar Basu

Lamenting that Moose Wala was killed before Chamak rolled, creator on how his murder fired up the team to fearlessly tell story of Punjabi music industry’s underbelly

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Sidhu Moose Wala

For long, Punjabi pop numbers were known for groovy beats, catchy lyrics and the artistes’ swag. But the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala in May 2022 brought to the forefront the underbelly of the Punjabi music industry. Over a year-and-a-half since Moose Wala’s untimely demise comes Chamak, a musical thriller that tells the story of a Punjabi singer shot dead in broad daylight. When we get on a call with creator-director Rohit Jugraj, he says that the series doesn’t flinch from looking at the underbelly of the Punjabi music scene. “Punjab is a land that reveres music the most. There, music is big, and the amount of money singers make is shocking. When money increases, crime follows. I have seen extortion of artistes. The underbelly of Punjab and crime are age-old issues; people are only hearing about it now. The biggest Punjabi stars don’t live in the state, they live abroad. This is not because of Sidhu Moose Wala’s [murder]. It has been happening since 1986, two years before folk artiste [Amar Singh] Chamkila was killed. Artistic jealousy is to the point that they can kill each other. Artistes have been shot dead while performing at shaadis, like Dilshad Akhtar was in 1996. What boils my blood is that people didn’t know about it till a global icon died.”

Chamak; (right) Rohit Jugraj