Dub-star Confidential

“She has a very screechy voice,” says 29-year-old Erande. “So instead of imitating it in Hindi,which people wouldn’t like,I make it sound more pleasing. I gave it a Juhi Chawla twist!” Erande started out as a child artist who would go to dub for her own movies. “That’s how the dubbing bug got me,” she says. It has kept her hooked for the past two decades. Now,Erande can sound like anyone – from a gruff old man to a gurgling one-year-old. “Just give me a call. Say hello!” she says. And a mechanical voice intones: “The subscriber you have called is out of network area.” A few minutes of static later,Erande bursts out laughing. “I had you there!” She sure did.

Ashar Sheikh,a voice contortionist like Erande,can be heard all over the children’s channels in India,as he has been dubbing for Cartoon Network and Pogo. Shaikh can perfect the high notes on an “Uff yeh tumne kya kiya,Tommy!” or “Scooby Doo ke dost kahan hai”— exclamations that fly out of brightly sketched animations in serials on Cartoon Network and Pogo.

This is one busy 14-year-old,and it’s not homework he’s slaving over. “I have dubbed for the spy kid movies,Chowder on Cartoon Network and Anpanman Breadman on Pogo. I have done many,many movies,” says Shaikh,who plans to give his voice a break this year,as he has to prepare for the board exams next year. In the meantime,he’d like to do as much dubbing for villain Kaalia (of Chhota Bheem) as possible,and avoid dubbing a child crying. “I have to do it,” he says resignedly,“but it is difficult.”

Cartoons dubbed in Hindi are a hit,says Krishna Desai,South Asia director of programming of Turner (which runs Pogo and Cartoon Network). “Yes,the children do study in English,but we have found through surveys that the kids like to listen to things in the local language. In north India,especially,Hindi is a hit,” he says.

Cartoon networks went regional over a decade ago,and the movie channels are starting to catch up and get their content dubbed in Hindi. All action movies on UTV Action are dubbed in Hindi. “Movies about children and action movies are a big hit in the Hindi-to-English dubbing scene,” says Mansi Sapre,head of programming,UTV Action. “But Indian viewers are not sympathetic to horror and some find thrillers too sophisticated.”

Though a lot is feared to be lost in translation,the dubbing artists say they try to get the ‘feeling’ across. Erande says,“I try to imitate but I don’t copy. I try to match my voice to the actor as close as possible.” She has recently dubbed for Denise Richards in Wild Things and Angelina Jolie in The Bone Collector. “We have to look at the character closely,and it takes around 15-20 minutes and a few takes to get it right,” says Pinky Rajput,the voice of Barbie (for all the TV serials and DVDs),as well as a host of Hollywood and Bollywood actors. “I was the voice for Rambha in all her Hindi films,” she says.

Rajput is also the co-owner of Prelude,a dubbing studio in Andheri,Mumbai,which was started a year ago. “Dubbing artists always get work through word of mouth —through “vendors”,as they call them. Now,we are like a vendor ourselves. We have a set of dubbing artists who come to use our studio,and we fix up assignments,” says 40-year-old Rajput,who,incidentally,is famous for having the best scream in Bollywood. “The movie Lajja starts off with a loud scream. Though I had no dubbing in the movie,they wanted me to scream for it. I did it thrice,until I got it right. It was very high pitched. I lost my voice for three days after that.” She occasionally steps in to lend a hand,or vocal chords,for actors in need. “While filming Bicchu,Rani Mukherji had a problem and couldn’t scream,so I was called in to do just one scream,” says Rajput.

The rates do hit the high notes too. “You can get Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per movie,” says Rajput. “And if you use mimicry in a show,you can get up to Rs 6,000 per show. The radio guys use us for spoofs.” But the real moolah is to be made in advertising. Though the rate per line per language is a deceptively modest Rs 10,000,dubbing artists who can do vernacular variations can make up to a lakh per day.

Though the money is good,there are still complaints. Says Rajput,“In Hollywood,voicing artists get royalties. But here,even music artists don’t get their due,so we have to wait till we get our due.”

What’s more,with channels looking for more dubbed content,the competition among the voice-artists is high. “You don’t need any certification to dub. Many of my friends also want to get into the business. And they get parts easily. There is lot of competition now,” says Shaikh. His voice is a bit low.