Film-maker Pawan Kumar has touched a sensitive chord by batting for dubbing films in other languages into Kannada. He said he would favour dubbing Hollywood film The Jungle Book into Kannada.
A few days ago, he took to Facebook to announce that he had spoken to Walt Disney Pictures and asked for rights to dub The Jungle Book into Kannada. But at present, he is too busy with his own film, U-Turn .
“In principle, I am not against dubbing a film of The Jungle Book kind. But I am busy with my film,” he said. However, he added that he would stand by anyone who takes up the task.
Pawan has a reason for favouring dubbing of a film of this kind. When he was young, his father took him to the Hindi version of Jurassic Park and Titanic . “Even now, our children are forced to watch Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions of The Jungle Book ,” he said.
“My daughter has very little content to watch in Kannada. I want her to hear more Kannada through all kinds of visual media. I am sure this is the contention of most parents,” he said.
“What is wrong in dubbing Jurassic Park and Titanic when there is no possibility of making a film of the kind in Kannada? Am I asking for dubbing Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan or Vijay’s Theri ?” he asked.
While film bodies refuse to talk about the issue of dubbing, considering the Competition Commission of India’s ruling that dubbing from other languages into Kannada cannot be opposed, M.S. Ramesh, president of the Kannada Film Directors’ Association, argued that those who did not have work on hand were batting for dubbing.
