Voice of the stars

Malayalam dubbing artistes are cashing in on the spurt in the number of dubbed films and serials

Dubbing for the serial Kya Hua Tera Vada in progress at a studio in Thiruvananthapuram Photo: Sreejith R. Kumar

Dubbing artiste Praveen Harisree leads multiple lives! Every month he goes on a three-day trip to Chennai from Kochi to dub for three serials - Kailasanathan, Mounam Sammatham and Swayamvaram; all Malayalam versions of Hindi serials aired prime time on Asianet and Asianet Plus. On other days, he is busy dubbing for the male lead in Madhubala (for Surya TV) or for ads and Hindi/Tamil movies.

Praveen isn’t the only one. With the Malayalam film and television industry leaving the field wide open for dubbed films and serials in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil, scores of dubbing artistes are cashing in on the trend and helping actors speak Malayalam in programmes that are telecast on Malayalam channels.

Although Chennai is where the action is, there are many studios in Kerala where serials in other languages are dubbed into Malayalam. Thanks to the profusion of dubbed Hindi movies and serials on Malayalam television, these studios are busy.

Chennai-based musician-turned-dubbing-artiste Sreekumar Menon is a veteran who started out by dubbing for English movies. He is the voice of Shahrukh Khan

(Chennai Express), Saif Ali Khan (Race 2), Prabhu Deva (ABCD) and Akshay Kumar (Rowdy Rathore). His wife, Siji, had dubbed for Deepika Padukone in Chennai Express. “I have dubbed for many Bond movies, especially for Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan and also for Will Smith’s character from Men In Black ,” says Sreekumar.

The production houses/studios buy the rights of the non-Malayalam films and get the script translated by experienced hands, before it goes for dubbing.

“We ensure that the movies chosen are outstanding and also get the best people to dub. That is the reason why we got veteran Bhagyalakshmi to dub for

English Vinglish and

Kahaani ,” says Sajith Kumar who has ‘produced’ Malayalam versions of

English Vinglish, Kahaani and

Unnaipol Oruvan for his banner Pallavi International.

Leading dubbing artiste Ambili Mohan writes the dialogues in Malayalam for these films/serials and coordinates post production work.

She adds: “We don’t do word-by-word translation. The dialogues are changed in such a way that the dubbing is in sync with the lip movement of the actors.”

Her latest works are Billa and Kathi .

The job is not easy what with the audience being familiar with the voice of their favourite stars.

Sreekumar, who was also the voice of Aamir Khan in the Malayalam version of Satyameva Jayate , says: “When I dubbed for Shahrukh, I tried to bring in the typical quaver in his voice, but then I am no mimicry artiste. Dubbing for Aamir was really difficult because of the nature of the show.”

But being a mimicry artiste has helped artistes like Praveen, especially when he “dubbed for Kamal Haasan in Dashavatharam, Viswaroopam and Unnai Pol Oruvan .”

He has dubbed for Aravind Swamy (Roja, Bombay), Madhavan (Alaipayuthey), Mammootty (Dalapathi and Azhagan) , and Jayaram (Julie Ganapathy).

In spite of the fact that serial artistes are up in arms against the number of dubbed serials, it seems the trend is here to stay. Also, even though dubbing for other language films/serials don’t earn enough remuneration and recognition, the artistes aren’t complaining, for there has been a considerable decrease in the number of soaps in Malayalam.

“Not only are these dubbed serials a new visual experience for the viewers owing to opulent sets, costumes and make-up but these programmes have a huge star cast, which translates into work for more dubbing artistes. “For one of the serials, we had 25 artistes dubbing for a single episode,” says dubbing artiste D. Sajith.

Distinctive voices

* Bhagyalakshmi has dubbed for Maneesha Koirala (Dil Se) , Simran (Kannathil Muthamittal) and Anushka Shetty (Arundhati). She has been quite choosy about working in dubbed movies but English Vinglish was one offer she couldn’t refuse. “When I saw it in theatres, I wished I could be part of it in some way. When I got the opportunity to dub for the film, I was on cloud nine. Dubbing for Vidya Balan in Kahaani was equally exciting. Now I wish could dub for Vidya in Dirty Picture!”

* The anti-tobacco advertisement ‘Shwasakosham sponge poleyaanu…’ got noticed because of the voice. Gopan, veteran newsreader with All India Radio, New Delhi, who dubbed for the ad, says he enjoyed the anonymity for quite sometime, especially when mimicry artistes had a lot of fun at his cost. Currently settled in Delhi, he continues to dub for ad campaigns of various government departments and radio/television commercials.

* Shibu Kallar is a Vijay specialist for he has dubbed for the actor in the Malayalam versions of his movies such as Jilla, Thalaiva, Thuppaki, Villu, Kavalan, Nanban, Velayudham, Friends, Priyamanavale… “I don’t imitate neither his style of dialogue delivery nor his voice,” says Shibu who is also a singer, composer and lyricist.

On screen

* English Vinglish , Kahani,Oru Budhanazhcha (Unnaipol Oruvan), Chennai Express, Race, Race 2, Barfi, Wake Up Sid and ABCD have already been aired. Forthcoming films include Kaminey and Chance Pe Dance . Amrita TV had begun the trend by telecasting dubbed Tamil films, such as Hey Ram,Roja, Dalapathi, Nayakan, Kannathil Muthamittal, Boys and Mahanadi. Kairali TV continues to have viewership for its dubbed Tamil movies.

* Some of the dubbed serials currently on air are Madhubala (Madhubala), CID (CID), Sahasikam (Khatron Ke Khiladi), Pranayavarnangal (Rang Rasiya), Sithara (Sasural Simar Ka), Saphalyam (Bani – Ishq Da Kalma), Vaalsalyam (Uttaran) and Balika Vadhu (Balika Vadhu) on Surya TV, Mounam Sammatham (Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon…) and Swayamvaram (Saraswatichandra) on Asianet Plus, Kailasanathan (Kailasanathan) on Asianet, Ganesha Leela (Ganesha Leela) and Ormayil (Kya Hua Tera Vaada) on Amrita TV.