The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : They act in front of the mike at work

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Sunday, Jan 11, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

They act in front of the mike at work

K. Lakshmi

— Photo: S.S.Kumar

S.Jayageetha dubs for a serial at a recording theatre in Chennai.

CHENNAI: Their voices are their faces in the celluloid world. Not all film stars who are attractive and act well have a voice to match their acting skills. This is where dubbing artists with their amazing talent to modulate their voices step in.

They have lent their voices to make your favourite characters speak powerful and stirring dialogues. Dubbing artists are not only of immense help to actors who are not fluent in the native language but also bring the stars from other languages, including the Hollywood stars, closer to the audience with their dubbing skills.

His passion for dubbing made Ghantasala Ratnakumar, son of veteran playback singer Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, enter the field and he has already three decades of experience. “When I began my career, all artists dubbing for characters in a scene had to dub at the same time. Even if one of us misses out, the entire team had to go for another take. With the technological advancement, both space and the screen have been narrowed. Each dubbing artist may now separately deliver dialogues,” said Mr.Ratnakumar, who has dubbed for several actors, including Arjun and Anand Babu.

Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna or even Jim Carrey have spoken Tamil dialogues in the dubbing movies, thanks to him. “As a dubbing artist, you should not be only fluent in the language but also versatile to match your lip sync, diction and pauses to synchronise with the body language of the character,” he said.

Women artists get more opportunities in the field as more heroines need help. The advent of television serials has come as a major breakthrough for the artists.

K.R. Anuradha has been the voice of many actors, from Jayapradha, Radha, Kushboo to debut heroines now. “If actors emote on screen, we act in front of the mike. There is no question for homework in this field. I have spoken dialogues that run for several minutes with little time to rehearse,” she said.

She has spoken in various languages even laughed in the interludes of songs. She recounts her dubbing for the characters played by Gauthami in ‘Devar Magan’ and Meena in ‘Veera’ for the different dialects.

Dubbing for the lead characters could be a strenuous job involving high pitched shouts. Ravi Devnarayan who is the screen voice of many actors, including Abbas, Shyam and J.D.Chakravarthy, said, “I match my dialogue delivery according to the characters’ actions on the screen. Sitting in a place and speaking for them as they run or fight is not an easy job. I observe the actors’ body language and match my tone. While Shyam in ‘Iyarkai’ speaks with a nasal tone, Abbas in ‘Minnale’ delivers dialogues with a stylish accent.”

Talking for long hours in varied tones often leave a strain in their vocal chords. S.Jayageetha who dubs for actors, including Devyani and Nameetha, said, “I spoke in shrill voice for Shriya Reddy in ‘Thimiru’ that won accolades to me. It took me over a month to regain my voice.”

Dubbing artists complain that they earn one per cent of the salary of the stars that they speak for.

One of them said, “We are not even part of the award category in several awards except for those given by the State government.”

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