When Bollywood actresses are rendered dumb

A recent example of this trend is the Bengali film, Bariwali, directed by Rituparno Ghosh. The lead role was done by the noted actress Kiron Kher but her voice was dubbed by someone else, an actress popular in Bengali tele-serials. When Kher won the National Award for best actress, it triggered off a controversy over whether it was fair to thus recognise someone whose own voice was not used in the film.

Things were quite different in the past as, for instance, when Satyajit Ray invited Waheeda Rehman to play a ‘‘non-Bengali’’ character called Gulabi in the film Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962). At that point of time, Waheeda Rehman was the highest paid star, earning around Rs 2 lakh per film in the erstwhile Bombay film industry. But she considered it much more rewarding to act in Ray’s film for a payment of just Rs 50,000 for a ten-day-stint. She was even reluctant to accept the agreed amount.

Tapan Sinha worked the same magic with Vyjayanthimala and Saira Banu in Haate Bazaare and Sagina Mahato, two important Bengali films made in late sixties. In Mrinal Sen’s Antareen (1995), Dimple Kapadia essayed with great aplomb the role of the eldest sister in a Bengali family. The dubbing for Dimple’s character was done by another noted Bengali film actress, more popular for her stage plays. The reason for not using Dimple’s voice was— as Mrinal Sen clarified — due to her poor Bengali inflexion and enunciation. Dimple was not considered for the National Award that year because of this.

Now Aishwarya Rai has just completed a Bengali film, Chokher Bali (Eye Sore), based on a story by Tagore and directed by Rituparno Ghosh. Rai looked very lovely visually, but the old dilemma remains. Rai is not sure if she would be called to dub for the film. The little Bengali she spoke is, of course, inadequate and if she does the dubbing it could undermine the quality of the film. Tabu, another National award winner actress, has done a Bengali film with Goutam Ghose called Abaar Aranye (Return to Forest), a sequel piece to Ray’s Chekovian masterpiece Aranyer Din Raatri (Days and Nights In the Forest, 1970). The good news for her is that she has been allowed by the director to dub for her part. The film is awaiting release.

But the moot point remains: Is it right to use artistes in films only for their appearance rather than their all-round emoting skills, which would naturally include dialogue delivery?