Veteran dubbing artiste alleges Shobana threatened to skip promotions for Mohanlal’s film if her own voice wasn’t used in it

However, there are quite a few movies in which Shobana didn’t dub for herself. In fact, even her National Award-winning performance as Ganga/Nagavalli did not feature her own voice but rather those of dubbing artistes Bhagyalakshmi and Durga. One of the most established and famed dubbing artistes in Malayalam cinema, Bhagyalakshmi has lent her voice to Shobana — as well as to many other beloved actors like Urvashi, Revathi, Sumalatha, Suhasini Maniratnam, Menaka, Nadiya Moidu, Lissy, Parvathy, Rekha, Kanaka, Vani Viswanath, and Samyuktha Varma — in several movies.

Recently, the veteran artiste stepped forward and opened up about an upsetting experience she faced during the making of director Tharun Moorthy’s Thudarum, starring Mohanlal and Shobana in the lead roles. In a recent interview, Bhagyalakshmi revealed that although she dubbed for Shobana in the movie at the request of its makers, her voice was replaced by the actor’s own without her knowledge. She also alleged that there are certain points in the movie where she feels her voice has been retained due to the actor’s inexperience dubbing for such demanding moments.

“I know Shobana can’t do it. They used my voice in the climax. She can’t scream or yell like that because she doesn’t have experience doing it. The shouting in the climax is mine,” she reportedly claimed during an interview with Saina South Plus. Bhagyalakshmi added, “Everyone knows I dub in most of Shobana’s films, and people say my voice suits her best. When I was called (for Thudarum), I even asked why Shobana herself couldn’t do it, since she speaks Tamil well. But the director and writer said I should dub, so I did. I screamed and shouted in the climax part; it took a lot of effort. They even paid me in full without bargaining.”

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A few weeks later, she called Thudarum’s producer, M Renjith of Rejaputhra Visual Media, to enquire about the film’s status. Bhagyalakshmi revealed that it was only then that she learned her voice had been removed from the movie, as Shobana apparently threatened not to participate in promotions unless she was allowed to use her own voice.

She continued, “Ranjith told me there were some small corrections and then said, ‘I was wondering how to tell you this — your voice has been replaced. Shobana dubbed it.’ He told me she had insisted that she would not attend promotions unless she dubbed her own role. The actor has every right to use their own voice, and the director has the final say. I don’t object to that. But after all the years I’ve dubbed for Shobana, she or the team could have just called to say she wanted to do it herself. That courtesy was missing.”

Bhagyalakshmi further criticised director Tharun Moorthy for allegedly making claims that misrepresented the facts during promotional interviews, stating that the idea of having Shobana dub for herself was there from the start. “In the promotions, Tharun Moorthy said they had decided from the beginning that Shobana would dub her own role. That’s not true. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I stayed silent until now,” she added.

Neither Thudarum’s team nor Shobana has responded to Bhagyalakshmi’s claims yet. The third-highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2025 (Rs 234.5 crore), Thudarum also featured Prakash Varma, Thomas Mathew, Amritha Varshini, Farhaan Faasil, and Binu Pappu in key roles.