Out of the blue, I received a call saying “Your voice is good. Can you come for dubbing? I got a call from director Shankar’s office. The eternal optimist in me jumped at the opportunity. As it tuned our, it wasn’t for even a small role in his film. Shankar merely wanted me to dub for his hero Prabhudeva in the film Kadalan. Thinking that this was the one field I haven’t yet tried, I set aside my dreams of acting as a hero and started dubbing for Prabhu Deva in ‘Kadhalan’ (Tamil version of Hum se hai mukabla).
Hold the champagne!
For me even that was something to look forward to. Dubbing is an important part of the acting machinery and to dub for director Shankar was an awesome learning experience. When these days I am appreciated for my dubbing capabilities I know a large portion of that is because of what I learnt from Shankar. But despite the positives, I don’t think anything is nearly as depressing and demeaning than action being asked to dub for another. You put your voice, your emotions, you heart and soul into it only to realize that it is all being picturised on someone else. No one ever talks about the dubbing artist in India. It is actor on-screen who walks away with the credit. Only in India will actors even get National awards without dubbing for the film. It’s so unfair.
I even dubbed for Abbas in from Kaadal Desam (Tamil version of Duniya dilwalon ki) till Kandu konen kandu konden and Padaiyappa, for Ajith in Amaravathi, for Vineeth in Pudiya Mugam and again for Prabhu deva in Rasayya and Minsara kanavu (Tamil version of Sapnay).
I would feel very sad while dubbing for other heroes in the dark theatres. I would start dreaming how I would have performed had I been given a chance to appear in the screen as well. I became a solitary bird in a deserted forest, whose songs no one could hear. But, as the breadwinner, I had to take home some money to make a living. But the dream was burning inside me.
Shailaja of course could not understand why I was putting up with all this humiliation. She kept saying, you are smart, articulate. Do something else. I could have done so many different things. But I couldn’t quit. The dream was burning inside me. I couldn’t allow myself to be called a quitter. I was convinced. The law of averages was bound to catch up with me.
Fifteen years and still a struggler. It had to change!
*******************
Hold the champagne!
For me even that was something to look forward to. Dubbing is an important part of the acting machinery and to dub for director Shankar was an awesome learning experience. When these days I am appreciated for my dubbing capabilities I know a large portion of that is because of what I learnt from Shankar. But despite the positives, I don’t think anything is nearly as depressing and demeaning than action being asked to dub for another. You put your voice, your emotions, you heart and soul into it only to realize that it is all being picturised on someone else. No one ever talks about the dubbing artist in India. It is actor on-screen who walks away with the credit. Only in India will actors even get National awards without dubbing for the film. It’s so unfair.
I even dubbed for Abbas in from Kaadal Desam (Tamil version of Duniya dilwalon ki) till Kandu konen kandu konden and Padaiyappa, for Ajith in Amaravathi, for Vineeth in Pudiya Mugam and again for Prabhu deva in Rasayya and Minsara kanavu (Tamil version of Sapnay).
I would feel very sad while dubbing for other heroes in the dark theatres. I would start dreaming how I would have performed had I been given a chance to appear in the screen as well. I became a solitary bird in a deserted forest, whose songs no one could hear. But, as the breadwinner, I had to take home some money to make a living. But the dream was burning inside me.Shailaja of course could not understand why I was putting up with all this humiliation. She kept saying, you are smart, articulate. Do something else. I could have done so many different things. But I couldn’t quit. The dream was burning inside me. I couldn’t allow myself to be called a quitter. I was convinced. The law of averages was bound to catch up with me.
Fifteen years and still a struggler. It had to change!
*******************
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