Every time a Rajinikanth film is released, the buzz around it can put a hive of Amazonian bumble bees to shame. It is no different this time. Kabali is slated for release on July 22 in almost 1,000 screens overseas. It is being screened in nearly 500 screens in the U.S. and U.K, 100 screens in rest of Europe, 175 screens in Gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Australia, and 225 screens in Malaysia and Singapore. In short, overseas business has never been more important. One of South India’s leading and oldest overseas film distributors says, “As overseas distributors, our role has gradually gained in importance, and now, we are crucial to the success of a film. Unlike those who distribute the film here in India, our role is more significant.” And needless to say, when a film like Kabali gets such a wide release across the world, the focus shifts to another unglamorous aspect of film business: subtitling.
City-based Rekhs has finished the subtitling work for Kabali , the 333rd film she has offered her subtitling services for. “Subtitling is not something anybody with a working knowledge of both languages can do. You need to understand and love cinema. It is a matter of great pride that two films that won the National Award this year, Kanche (Telugu) and Ennu Ninte Moideen (Malayalam), were subtitled by us,” she says.
There are many commercial and statutory reasons why Tamil films need to be subtitled. There is a large population of second-generation NRIs who love to watch a Tamil film, even if they aren’t fluent in the language. Madurai or Tirunelveli dialects are also quite difficult for them to comprehend. In countries like South Africa, non-English films are doomed to fail, if without subtitles.
Rekhs says she has always had to be extra careful when subtitling for Rajini films. “When the Superstar says ‘Kabali da!’ we thought it’d be apt to have the subtitles read, ‘Kabali, I say!’” she says. That isn’t all. “In Kabali , we have tried out something new. We have used subtitles like emoticons, in order to convey the emotion, and this has been welcomed by the hearing impaired.”
Her biggest challenge, she says, is when films get edited after all the work is completed. “We are all prepared to handle changes or cuts imposed by the censors, but when it happens more than once, it upsets the whole work. They don’t realise that our subtitles are used as the base for Arabic, French, Malay and German subtitles. A small change here has a domino effect.” These challenges aside, she’s thrilled about the opportunity to subtitle for Kabali . “I have subtitled some of his earlier films as well,” she says. “I remember when Rajini fans sent me complimentary messages when I subtitled ‘Summa adhurudhulla!’ to ‘Doesn’t the earth tremor and quake!’
