Desi films take the local route

For long, Kannada film industry a.k.a Sandalwood fought against dubbing, but in 2017 with the release of Nanu Nanna Preethi, a Hindi movie dubbed in Kannada, the decade long fight came to an end. While it took some time before dubbed movies came into existence here,  major films started seriously contemplating the new avenue, the recent pan-India success of Kannada movies, dubbed in other languages have helped to robust the process. Even mainstream Hollywood films apart from major Hindi and other south Indian languages are making their entry into Kannada with dubbed versions of it. Bengaluru Chronicle reports on the dubbing mania which has gripped the Kannada industry and how it is being viewed by the experts.

“The latest to hit is Dabangg 3 starring Salman Khan and our own Kichcha Sudeepa. This is the first film to witness the highest number of screens for a dubbed movie. It was released in no less than 100 screens across the State. In fact, the Kannada dialogues written by director Gurudutta Ganiga were carefully penned keeping in mind the local audience. The voices were dubbed by experienced artistes,” says the distributor of the film Manjunath.

Whereas, Gurudutta Ganiga shared prior to the release that a lot of work went into the dubbing to make it look authentic. “The lyrics of the songs was penned by director Anup Bhandari. All of it was due to the high expectations of Salman Khan movie being released in Kannada for the first time. A huge fan base were eager to watch Salman in action in Kannada apart from the obvious mega star of Sandalwood — Kichcha in it as Bali Singh.”

Along with Sye Ra Narasimha Reddy, the Kannada dubbed version of Terminator: Dark Fate saw the release lately.

“The dubbing has gone beyond movies as even animated TV channels, online streaming platforms and other similar platforms are slowly expanding their market by dubbing their films and shows in Kannada to maximise the reach. It has resulted in a generation of work for dubbing artistes and eventually expanding the commercial aspects of filmmaking,” says Naresh, a filmmaker.

He adds that dubbing has certainly dented one section of the industry which is that of remake ventures. “When the major commercial films are dubbed in Kannada, the remake rights lose its value. This in turn, has in a way provides opportunities to new makers with original scripts. The excitement and enthusiasm over dubbing has conceded. It is a simple demand and supply process. The makers decided to whether dub it or not based on the demand,” he adds.

Experts sign off saying that once Kannada films started going pan-India, it was evident that it has laid the path for dubbing, and with no legal hurdles, it was just a matter of time, they say.