Film producers and movie channels tell SHAlINI SAKSENA that the reason why South Indian movies dubbed in Hindi are being aired on TV regularly is because these films not only have a good storyline, but there is plenty of action and humour, there is drama and the movies are better looking than many films that Bollywood is churning out each year
Almost everybody who loves to watch movies on the small screen knows that if one is getting bored and wants to be entertained, then the solution is to tune in to a movie channel that is airing a South Indian movie that has been dubbed in Hindi. The reasonIJ There is plenty of action, lots of drama and humour and a good story with some great locales.
Manchu Vishnu, CEO of MB Corp, founder of 24 Frames Factory (film production companies) and CEO of ThinkSmart a special effects studio in Hyderabad gives you how the entire dubbing industry works and the money involved for the producers. He tells you that though the industry is still in its nascent stage, it is better than it was a decade back when rights for a film could be bought for a few thousand. “There was a time when these movies would fetch a few thousand rupees. Today, the scenario is different; at least there is a market. Some popular movies today fetch as much as `1.5 to `2 crore. But on an average, a South Indian movie can be bought between `50 lakh to a crore. While it may not be a lot of money, at least a market has opened up, however small. With the demand growing, it will definitely push the price up as well. The good part is that, at the moment, the producers are not greedy; they sell their movies for `10 lakh, `15 lakh or as low as `5 lakh even if the budget of the movie is, say, `20 crore. Who benefit most from such a venture are the stars and the directors. People want to see movies starring them which is an advantage for the actor as it opens up more avenues for him. For a producer, if he doesn’t make money, he may as well not make a movie at all,” Vishnu says.
He also tells you that when a producer undertakes a project, he does it with a lot of passion with the aim of making money. In India, if you are making a film you have to have two things — passion and the intention to make money. “In the entire history of Indian movies, no producer has become a billionaire by just making films. If one were to equate the fame with the money involved, there is a lot of disparity. The sad part is that the fame does not convert into money; if it did, one would be rolling in billions. Popularity is not equal to the money we earn; there is a lot of popularity but not that much money,” the 34-year-old producer says, adding that it is easy for him to choose which movie to dub in Hindi. “Most of my movies are action-comedies. It is a genre that people love. So I choose around 25 per cent of them and dub them,” Vishnu tells you.
One is told that the dubbing takes place mostly in Chennai. Though the city has lost its status as the headquarters of South Indian movie production due to Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam movies shifting their bases to their States, Kollywood (as Chennai is known in film circles) has diversified into various new avenues of film industry. And dubbing films into different languages is a thriving business.
“The year 2015 saw 26 Tamil films getting dubbed into Hindi. All these movies were dubbed for telecasting on TV,” Jayanthi, assistant director, Central Board of Film Certification, Chennai says. On an average three Tamil movies get dubbed into Hindi for channels. “It is not the latest movies which are getting dubbed into Hindi. Most of them are action-packed thrillers starring Ajith, Vishal, Soorya and Vijay who are familiar to Hindi-speaking viewers,” Jayanthi explains.
Mahalakshmi Bharadwaj, member, Censor Board, Chennai, says the unprecedented number of Tamil movies getting dubbed into Hindi is surprising. “Movies used to be dubbed into Hindi and vice-versa but not at this level. Many recording theatres and dubbing studios in Chennai which were shut down are back in business,” Bharadwaj says. This is because cost of production of Tamil movies is comparatively low. Those films which made it big in South India are being remade in Hindi because producers are sure of getting back their investment with a good profit. It also offers a chance to Tamil directors to make it big in Bollywood,” she tells you.
But Sundar Das, a film critic and analyst, has an interesting observation. “There are a number of 24x7 TV channels in Hindi which telecast only movies. These channels need at least two or three movies a day to cater to the requirement of the viewers. The number of Hindi films produced in north are not sufficient. Hence this interest in Tamil movies,” Das says, adding that these movies play the role of fillers between conventional movies.
Mankombu Gopalakrishnan, lyricist-turned-producer who is into dubbing, pointed out that this is not confined to Tamil and Hindi films alone. “Many Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam movies too get dubbed into Hindi. The dubbed version of Bahubali was bought by a Malayalam channel for `2.5 crore. You can imagine the kind of business being done in this segment,” Gopalakrishnan says, who also buys and dubs Hollywood films into Malayalam and Tamil.
People associated with the dubbing business do not want to disclose the money involved. lalitha Sree, former actress who has taken up dubbing full-time, says that the whole business reminds her of the assembly line production of a fast moving consumer product. “There are hardly seven or eight persons in Chennai who are capable of lending their voice for Hindi films. We have to manage with the limited number of talent available here,” lalitha says. People who dub voices of hero and heroine command anything between `10,000 to `15,000 per movie; character artists charge `7,000 while others get `2,000 per movie. “The whole work has to be completed in one week with the mixing process taking another three days. We work on shoe-string budgets,” she says.
Anil Wanvari, TV critic, tells you that it has been going on for quite some time now. “Viewers in the South watch Hindi cinema for variety and the same holds true with Hindi viewers. When Southern films are dubbed in Hindi, the audience expands as not only do they get variety but they get it in a language they understand. Southern films have beautiful stories, lots of action and are made with humour. Certain channels have tapped into the viewers’ need for exciting variety,” he says. Therefore, channels offer these movies. For example, Zee Cinema is set to showcase three entertainers at primetime from Friday, March 18 to Sunday, March 20. From Bruce lee-The Fighter (action-comedy film directed by Sreenu Vaitla), to No 1 Businessman (Telugu crime film directed by Puri Jagannadh) and Himmatwar (directed by Hari of Singham 2 fame), this weekend is all about being entertained.
The fact is corroborated by Udayan Shukla, senior VP (programming) of Sony Max. He tells you that though the trend is not something that is new, (it goes back to the 80s and 90s when movies like Roja and Appu Raja were dubbed in Hindi), the trend of South Indian movies being dubbed in Hindi began a decade back and that too by tier 1 film channels Star, Zee and Sony Max. “Because these channels managed to tap into a market that was unexplored, others followed suit. Also 12-15 years back, it was the era of single screening of movies. Due to the crowd that was coming to watch, many people stopped watching films. Then came multiplexes. A similar need was created by South Indian dubbed Hindi movies. Then there was a rural measurement that stood at 62 per cent and because of that the viewership increased and with it, the space for such movies which account for approximately 25 to 30 per cent of all movie content. Of course 70 per cent is still dedicated to Hindi films. But there is a space and demand which has now been tapped into,” Shukla explains.
What works in favour of such movies is that the content is good and there is lot of variety. These movies are far better looking than the average Bollywood movie that one gets to see. With glocal (global plus local) appeal, one finds that there are many takers of such movies who see the repeats as well. One is told that since these movies are what is termed as ‘snack-in’ and ‘snack-out’, it is important that they offer something different than what is being offered by Hindi movies that are aired on TV.
“One has to get the psychography right. It is difficult to quantify this but once you have this in place you know and understand the interests, attitudes and opinions of your viewers. This makes it easy to know which movies should be shown and will work in terms of viewership. This, coupled with other factors like the starcast of the movie, director, content, storyline and demographics, means that one has the perfect mix to show the best of the best. Quality content is paramount for us but what is more important is viewers’ delight,” Shukla tells you.
From this stems the reason why, lately, Bollywood is enamoured with remakes of South Indian movies. There is Rowdy Rathore (remake of Vikramarkudu), Bodyguard (remake of Kaavalan), Singham (remake of Tamil film Singam) and Wanted (remake of Pokiri). Then there are movies like Drishyam, Ready and Ghajini that retained their original names. And because of this, the names of original movies, their starcast and directors came into limelight. This led to the demand by TV viewers to see South Indian movies dubbed in Hindi. But unlike films being released in the theatre, how the film premieres on TV is a different ballgame altogether.
“One has to see that the extra songs are removed from the film. However, how one cuts them should not appear to be abrupt nor should it destroy the content. Though ad breaks are important, one has to see that they don’t impact the viewing. The break structures need to be placed properly. Of course there is syndication and because of that one finds that regional films are now being made with pan-India viewership; just like Hollywood. This means that there is mass appeal. Due to technology, things have become easier today,” Shukla says.
Ruchir Tiwari, business head, Zee Hindi Movie Cluster, which has four channels Zee Cinema, Zee Classic, Zee Action and &Pictures, tells you that some eight-nine years back there was hardly any demand for South Indian movies dubbed in Hindi on TV until in 2008 Diler: The Daring starring Chiranjeevi was released on Zee. That week, the movie raked in more money than Rang De Basanti. From then the trend caught on and other channels jumped in the fray. The reason why the trend began was because cinema has no language. Bollywood had been dubbing Hollywood movies. What works in such cases is that it adds to the bouquet of entertainment that is already there. So while some of these movies may find their way to primetime, 60-70 per cent of movies are still Hindi they are still the daal-chawal for the people. But South Indian movies have plenty of action and this genre has been lacking in Bollywood films in the last 15-odd years. This doesn’t mean Hindi cinema doesn’t make them; it does. But only one or two a year. It is not as if all movies that Bollywood is producing has action, which is the case in South movies,” Tiwari says.
So, only those South Indian movies are dubbed in Hindi which have lots of action. Action movies are liked because they provide a route for escapism when the hero fights the baddie; more so when it is one against 50 and the hero comes out the winner. So it is not surprising that Shivaji-The Boss rules the roost and Rajnikant remains the king of South Indian movies. The movie has action, love, drama and fun. You might have watched it several times, but you won’t get bored because it has fights over trains, re-incarnation and crores of rupees flying in the air. Then there is Dangerous Khiladi, a movie full of romance and action. Of course one can’t do without mentioning another movie that is repeated on the small screen Ragada. While the names of some may appear to be weird, there is nothing strange when it comes to entertainment. The great action in these movies make them instant hits on TV. What makes movies like Sabse Bada Don and King No 1 click is that besides action that is absolutely improbable it has plenty of comedy lacked by Hindi movies being aired on television. “People like to relate to the hero and vent out their anger and frustration by watching such movies. In the process if they get entertained, it works for us. We only have Rohit Shetty who makes action-comedies. What Bollywood needs is 10 Rohits,” Tiwari says.