Idiom for box office success
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It is a bonanza for Telugu and Tamil hits dubbed into Malayalam, as young viewers get hooked on the glitz and glamour of such films. Saraswathy Nagarajan
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Action and glamour: Allu Arjun in ‘Happy’
The accent is on profit. The sound of cash registers ringing loud and clear has seen many Tamil and Telugu movies being dubbed into Malayalam during the last two years. ‘Challenge,’ ‘Happy,’ ‘Arya,’ ‘Hero,&#
8217; ‘Lakshmi’ and ‘Boss I Love You’ are just a few of the Telugu films that were screened in Kerala. ‘Arya’ and ‘Happy’ raked in the moolah while many Malayalam films crashed at the box office.
Says Khadar Hassan, one of the main producers of such films: “Several young stars in Tamil and Telugu have changed the tone and tenor of films in those languages. Racy plots, glamorous song sequences and action-packed scenes have many takers in Kerala. It is due to the paucity of young stars in Malayalam that these films are doing well here.”
Hassan’s film ‘Bunny the Lion,’ starring Telugu star Allu Arjun, was released last month, while ‘Chhatrapati,’ starring Prabhas reach theatres today.
Prabhas in ‘Chatrapati’.
Critics point out that dubbed films, mostly hits in Tamil and Telugu, were premiered a couple of years ago and so the producers in Malayalam are able to get these films at comparatively low rates. Hence, the profits from those films can be substantial. The glamour quotient is one of the USPs of such films, they add.
Acknowledging the success of some of the dubbed films, ace filmmaker Siby Malayil says: “Certain films of this kind challenge our logic. But it is an undeniable fact that these slickly made films have many young takers in Kerala. However, what is puzzling is that this young audience do not accept potboilers made by Malayalam filmmakers. But they happily sit thorough Telugu and Tamil films which are sometimes just gloss sans a story.”
Dismissing such criticism, Hassan says that he ensures that the films he chooses to dub into Malayalam adhere to high production values.
“I work with my dubbing artistes and technicians to get the best results. Even critics were amazed to watch Allu Arjun’s ‘Arya.’ I insist on perfect lip sync for my films and so the viewers will never get the feeling that they are watching a dubbed film.”
Senior dubbing artiste Bhagylakshmi points out that dubbed films were a common feature till the Eighties. “Many mythological films were dubbed into Malayalam and did good business here. In those days, the number of Malayalam films was less. Lyricist Abhaydev, P.G. Vasudevan and Basant Kumar were some of the main players in the field then.”
Hindi films
Even Hindi films used to be dubbed into Malayalam at one time. Hindi films ‘Jeevan Mrityu’ (‘Jeevitha Samaram,’ starring Dharmendra and Rakhee) and ‘Uphaar’ (‘Upharam’ starring Jaya Bhaduri and Anil Dhawan), were big hits in the early Seventies.
Now Telugu and Tamil hits have again reached cinemas in Kerala. If Telugu films dominate the silver screen, Tamil films dubbed into Malayalam rule the roost on the small screen, especially on Amrita TV. The man behind the venture, Chandramohan, says, “It is a profitable business as there is an audience for Tamil hits. Although many of them might have seen the Tamil original, those unfamiliar with the language might not have understood all the dialogues and the storyline.”
Most of the dubbing work is done in studios in Thiruvananthapuram such as Vismaya Max, Shri Movies and Greens Media. In fact, some of the studios are devoted to dubbing only. The rerecording and other production details of some of the films are completed in Hyderabad and Chennai.
There is an entire team of dubbing artistes, lyricists and scenarists who work behind the scenes to make Telugu and Tamil stars romance, argue, grieve and plead in Malayalam.
“The story is translated into Malayalam and then the dialogues are written to suit the lip movements of the actors on the screen. There is quite a bit of improvisation in the studio to get the lip synch right,” explains dubbing artist Ambili who has translated and written the dialogues of all the Tamil films that were shown on Amrita TV.
Makeover for songs
Even the songs get a makeover with lyricists like Mankombu Gopalakrishnan, Rajiv Alungal and the late Bharanikavu Sivakumar lending their expertise to get the right verses for the chartbusters of films such as ‘Alaipayuthe,’ ‘Run’ and ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ and so on.
Lyricist Siju Thuravoor, who has worked on some of Hassan’s films, says that it is a challenge to write lyrics that match the lip movements of the actors on the screen. “We try to ensure that the lip synch is as perfect as possible. Moreover, we have to make the films relate to a Malayali audience. So we do not merely translate the lyrics from Telugu or Tamil into Malayalam. We try to do justice to the situation of the song and the meaning of the lyrics,” explains Siju. Not an easy task in the days of rap and fusion music.
Ambili adds that it is toughest to work on comedy and punch lines. “Humour is culture and region-specific. To make it connect to another culture is a tricky task. The dialogues in Malayalam will have to be in sync with the lip movement of the actors and convey the humour and meaning of the original dialogues too,” says Ambili. She adds that she takes 15 to 20 days to work on a film and rates her work in ‘Thiruvilayadal’ as her best.
She points out that her experience as a dubbing artiste has stood her in good stead.
Once the dialogues and the songs are done, then comes the real work of dubbing for the stars. Superstars such as Mohanlal and Mammotty prefer to dub their own films. For instance, Mohanlal did the dubbing for the Malayalam version of ‘Iruvar’ while Mammotty spoke his dialogues for ‘Dalapathi.’
Bhagyalakshmi usually dubs only for the heroines.
“It is a challenge to emote and lip sync. One has to read the lips of the actors to make the dubbing professional. But sometimes, we are forced to compromise on the meaning of the original as certain Telugu and Tamil words may have no equivalents in Malayalam or the lip sync may not match,” she says.
She was the voice of Nayantara, Katrina Kaif, Simran, Manisha Koirala and a host of other leading ladies when they had to speak Malayalam on screen.
But the going gets tougher when one has to dub for superstars like Rajnikant. Jissmon Joy who dubbed for ‘Dalapathi’ recalls, “Ambili, who has written the dialogues in Malayalam for the film, was with me all through the work on the film. Rajinkant has his style of delivery that is familiar to his fans. So it would have been the end of my career if I had not got it right. Dialogue delivery, style, emotion… everything had to go hand in hand.”
But, evidently, thanks to a host of talented dubbing artistes who manage to merge style, emotion and skill, the language of cinema is being rewritten with its own grammar and idiom to reach wider audiences.
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