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Open letter on Dubbing Artists

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28th June 2004

Open letter on Telugu film heroines and dubbing artists

Hi,

First and foremost, my sincere thanks to the IdleBrain website for providing a simple and the best way to reach out to the Telugu movie-watching community with my sincere feelings about the same.

Let me begin my article with a simple question, "How long has it been since we all have seen a totally original Telugu movie - a movie that is not a remake that has pure Telugu cast, and songs sung by pure Telugu singers?" Well the answer is not days, weeks, or months, but probably years.

The other day I saw the movie Arya, and I liked it. Though the title itself had some English mixed in it, the movie was enjoyable with a new look at the same-old concept of Love and above all, with some excellent dance-sequences. But, amidst all this, there was one striking flaw that irritated almost everyone, and that is the DUBBING FOR THE HEROINE. Whenever the heroine starts to talk, the audience couldn't wait for her to complete the dialogue and let the movie move on. It was VERY VERY IRRITATING.

These days, the dubbing for the heroines seems to have been type-cast. The same 2 or 3 dubbing artists are being used in every film, and it is very unfortunate that these dubbing artists cannot themselves do a better job than the non-Telugu speaking heroines. In their eagerness to display their English-accent or their western style, these dubbing artists are taking the Telugu language to the dust. Well, I have one message for them, "Their English is no better either", its just few sentences that they must have picked up from few English movies/channels.

Any language, English or Telugu, cannot be learnt by imitation, and mixing the accent of one with another in an obvious attempt to look stylish is totally futile and only makes one look stupid. Every language has its own grammar and composition, and it is inevitable to learn atleast the basics of these to speak that language. It is my strong opinion that these dubbing artists have to be re-admitted in their Primary Schools to refresh their basics!

Anyway, the plight of our Telugu movies is not to be blamed on these dubbing artists in as much as it is to be on our own PRODUCERS who carefully pick them and deliberately miss so many other Telugu-speaking girls. We, as audience also have a significant role in this for leading the Producers to believe that "it is fashionable to speak Telugu with English accent".

The producers are repeatedly failing in bringing a proper Telugu speaking heroine to the front. Then, the least they could do is use a proper Telugu speaking artist for Dubbing in the background.

Is it too much to ask for a heroine who looks good, acts well and speaks Telugu properly at the same time? Or, are we Andhraites being too greedy in expecting a completely original Telugu movie?

These questions might not have arised some years back, but, now with the tragic death of Soundarya, the answers to these seem to be a resounding "YES YES".. We cannot expect these anymore, unless some Producer/Director takes the initiative in reviving the beauty of our language once again. But, for now, it seems as though the long chain of "True Telugu Heroines" seems to have ended with Soundarya, and one cannot foresee anyone who can revive this in the near future.

We do have heroines like Laya, but they require a strong support from the Producers to be brought to the foreground. It is appreciable that our dear director "K.Vishwanath" is trying to come up with a movie like this, and lets all hope his movie would receive the proper credit it deserves.

The legendary NTR is remembered most in our hearts for his un-questionable contribution to the popularization of our Mother-Tongue, but, unfortunately, his own kin have an un-questionable contribution in de-popularizing it by bringing in "other" languages and trends into our films. Well, they are not the only ones, but, they are part of it. Even my favorite actor, Chiru, plays a significant part in entertaining other trends. He himself speaks very good Telugu, but, he doesn't seem to be objecting the no-good dubbing being used for the heroine opposite to him.

There is nothing wrong in trying to bring different languages and cultures together in a movie, but, one cannot afford to lose their originality.

The producers cannot assume that the heroines they bring in are very welcome here.. They are only looked at for their glamour and only glamour, and glamour, by itself, cannot sustain a heroine for long.

Whatever it is, "Idlebrain", I believe it is quite possible for you to bring some of these points to their notice.

PLEASE PLEASE CHANGE THE DUBBING ARTISTS. They are UNBEARABLE.

Thank you,
Ravi
rk_freelance@yahoo.com .

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