The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A pioneer in dubbing dialogues for films

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 07, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A pioneer in dubbing dialogues for films

K. Lakshmi

I cannot compromise on work or my principles: Devanarayanan

K. Devanarayanan — Photo: K. Pichumani

Chennai: He has succeeded in many fields in the Tamil film industry. Despite spending over 60 years in the industry, he still works untiringly. A pioneer in dubbing dialogues for films and songs, and lending his voice to several matinee idols, including A. Nageswara Rao and N.T. Rama Rao in dubbed Tamil films, K. Devanarayanan (80) likes to experiment.

Age has not deterred his passion for pursuing new dimensions in writing or dampened his spirit to venture into new fields. He was instrumental in making the characters in "Tipu Sultan," a serial dubbed from Hindi, speak in Tamil.

Mr. Devanarayanan told The Hindu that he began his career as a child artist in a film "Krishnan Thoodhu" when he was 11 years old. He became a stage playwright in 1942. "Ramarajyam," made by AVM productions, kick-started his career in films. He was not only a dubbing writer but also sang and dubbed for other artists.

"I have dubbed dialogues for 800 films in several languages. I have written for films dubbed from Oriya and Russian," said Mr. Devanarayanan.

He says he rejected several film offers as writer and hero because, "I cannot compromise on work or my principles. But, I do not regret losing those opportunities." Besides working as writer for several children pictures, he has written the dubbed dialogues for movies of various genres, including devotional ones. His writing contributed to the success of several dubbed films such as "Sippikul Muthu," "Salangai Oli" and "Annamacharya."

"I took up the challenge of changing the storyline of a Telugu film dubbed into Tamil as "Sahodara Saval," as the original movie in Kannada had already been dubbed in Tamil. We retained the same visuals and made the characters speak differently." "Another such adventure was dubbing a classic Tamil film after a few decades. I had to change the dialogues and writing style to suit the contemporary audience," he recalled.

He also wrote and directed stage plays simultaneously. "I introduced veteran comedian Chandra Babu in my play Naan Aparadi in 1950," he said. He was also a versatile dubbing artist. Mr. Devanarayanan has been writing for teleserials for more than two decades.

He pursues his profession with passion. "Though I have not got recognition for my ventures outside, I am happy that I am known in the film industry," he said.

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