Decades after Kishore Kumar sang Rabindranath Tagore’s Ami chini go chini for Charulata in 1964, his son Amit Kumar is now set to reprise the classic for Arnab Chatterjee's Murderbaad
(From left) Late Kishore Kumar; Amit Kumar
When making the upcoming Hindi thriller, Murderbaad, debutant director Arnab Chatterjee knew that his Bengali roots would seep into the storytelling. The movie — that stars Sharib Hashmi and Manish Chaudhari, and is set in Rajasthan — features a reinterpretation of Rabindranath Tagore’s timeless Bengali song, Ami chini go chini. While late Kishore Kumar had voiced the song for Satyajit Ray’s acclaimed Charulata (1964), this time around, the singer’s son Amit Kumar has stepped behind the mic.
A still from Charulata
The decision to include Tagore’s song wasn’t just an aesthetic one. Chatterjee shares that the song, reimagined by music director Rickie, is tied to the story and appears at a pivotal point. “Tagore’s words have this timeless ache. When I imagined that moment in the film, I kept hearing Ami chini go chini, but not as a straightforward rendition. I wanted it to feel ghostly, like a memory that refuses to fade. That’s when Amit Kumar became the only voice I could hear,” says the director.
It turns out Amit was initially hesitant about rendering a track that not only has the revered Tagore behind it, but also has been made iconic by his father. Fortunately, he relented by the personal resonance of the request. The director adds, “It was an homage to Kishoreda, to Bengali music, and to the generational shadows that linger over our stories. A part of me is heavily rooted to my culture. Ami chini go chini is a personal favourite, and I felt it fits perfectly in the context.”
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