Amar Singh Chamkila’s first wife, Gurmail Kaur, says Diljit Dosanjh hugged her on the film's sets, and she knew him before he entered films

Amar Singh Chamkila (right), and his first wife Gurmail Kaur. Imtiaz Ali's biopic on Chamkila, the Punjabi singer who was gunned down in 1988 near Jalandhar, has revived interest in his life and massive contribution to music.

Diljit Dosanjh has become the latest heartthrob of India after the super success of his latest Bollywood film, ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ based on the life of the noted Punjabi singer.

In a conversation with YouTube channel ‘Love Punjab’, Gurmail Kaur, who was the first wife of Chamkila, said she knew Diljit from his pre-Bollywood days.

Gurmail said when they met Diljit Dosanjh on the sets of the movie, she asked him if he knew her, to which Diljit said he did. She said he hugged her on the sets, adding that she is proud that his hard work has paid off.

“I have never met Diljit (Dosanjh) since he went into films, but prior to that, he used to meet me in the bank. He is also from Dugri. I would go to the bank to withdraw money, and Diljit would come running to me and touch my feet. And then, when we went to shoot on the sets, he met us. I asked him, 'Do you know me?' to which he replied, 'Yes'. Then I asked him if she knew Kamal and Roji. Then I asked him if he would wrestle in Dhurkot, and he said yes, they would. So he has become big, but he has done hard work and reached where he is now,” she told the channel.

In the interview, which is in Punjabi, Gurmail talked about their visit to the sets of Imtiaz Ali's ‘Chamkila’ and how Diljit hugged her the moment he saw her.

“Diljit hugged me there too when we met him on the sets. He knew me prior to films,” she added.

When asked if Chamkila would discuss his songs at their home or in front of them, Gurmail said that her husband never sang at home and it wasn’t allowed in their house.

Later, she also revealed that she could sense something really bad was going to happen when Chamkila and Amarjot came to meet them.

Gurmail said she only saw the black face of Chamkila when he was enjoying the rain at her home two days before his untimely death.

Recalling her last meeting with her husband, she said, “It was raining very heavily. Babbi (Amarjot Kaur) asked me why you were looking at the rain since we were making rotis at that time in the kitchen. I asked her why  Amandeep’s father (referring to Chamkila) was getting wet in the rain. Babbi said it was ok; maybe he likes rain. But when I was looking at him while standing in the rain, I could see his face as black. Then I looked at him again, and it was black again. And you won’t believe it was the same face (black in colour) I saw in the kothi at the time of his death two days later. I was his wife; I saw beforehand that something wrong was going to happen.”

Amar Singh Chamkila and his second wife, Amarjot Kaur, who sang at the akharas, were shot dead minutes before their performance in Mehsampur, near Jalandhar, on March 8, 1988. Chamkila had two daughters from his first marriage and one son from Amarjot.