There seems to be no end in sight to the row over the issue of dubbed serials — with the Telugu entertainment channels on one side and the artistes and technicians on the other.
Pleas, protests and hunger strikes later, the artistes’ body is now mulling legal and mass contact approaches in its fight against dubbed serials.
Deprive local talent
For the last two months, all the 24 different crafts of the local TV industry have been demanding that the entertainment channels stop airing serials dubbed from other languages. These serials, they say, not only ‘attacked the Telugu language and culture’, but also deprived local talent of their livelihood.
For the last 20 days, the artists and technicians have been holding relay hunger-strikes at Dharna Chowk in the city. Protests at channel offices ended up in some artists being booked after one of the offices came under attack.
“Dubbed serials are depriving nearly 15,000 families of their livelihood. We are planning to file a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court and are also in the process of approaching the Human Rights Commission and the Lokayukta,” says A. Prasada Rao, president of the Telugu TV Producers Council.
Actor Vijay Yadav, who went on hunger strike for five days, says the industry is now planning to reach out to the public on the issue. A cricket match scheduled in Kurnool next week is likely to be the venue for the campaign’s kick-off.
“The TV industry shares a good rapport with viewers and we will approach them and explain about the effects of dubbed serials,” he says.
Why dub serials?
The channels see economic sense in dubbed serials, which involve a cost of not more than Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000 per episode. Telugu serials, on the other hand, are made on a budget of Rs.70,000 to Rs.1 lakh per episode.
“Some of the channels were extremely positive to our request and we are grateful to them. Others are still taking time to decide on the issue. We intend continuing the agitation till the dubbed serials are stopped,” Mr. Rao adds.
