This story is from March 10, 2008

Tollywood goes dub dub

KARTHIK P / TNN / Mar 10, 2008, 00:00 IST

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Dubbed films it seems have never had it better. Over 20 of them have been released in the state in 2008 alone. TOI gets a hang of the situation.

doweshowbellyad=0; Aishwarya in Jodha Akbar More picsTo dub or not to dub is a debate that has gone on unabated perhaps since the time of the first talkie movie.
However, filmmakers worldwide have gone ahead to dub their films into foreign languages. Tollywood has been a happy hunting ground for such films and these days we even have dubbed versions of major English movies releasing on the same day as the original.
That Ashutosh Gowariker was here with Ash and Hrithik in tow for the premiere of the Telugu version of his latest controversial movie proves the point. Hyderabad Times catches up with filmmakers, critics, the general public and industrywallahs to understand this phenomenon.
Jaycinto Fernandes, India head, marketing, for a premier Hollywood production house is very bullish about the potential in South India. "In South India, especially Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the people just love movies and they are quite open to checking out something new especially when it comes to action flicks. We believe it is a huge market that we need to tap in," says Jaycinto.

This phenomenon is not something that is entirely new, say industry observers, who feel the state provides an ideal environment for dubbed films which account for a third of the revenues in collections.
"With no extra taxes levied on dubbing movies unlike some other states, dubbing movies have always flourished in the state. The rising costs of making a proper Telugu film are encouraging many small-time distributors to get into the dubbing business as they can pose as producers," says Prabhu, a film critic.

Movie business has always been a high investment - high-risk business but the competition in Tollywood has proven to be counter productive to the business. "With just a handful of bankable names in the business, the competition among the producers to snap up a star for their film has pushed their remunerations skyward, while the success rate of films in Tollywood has been spiralling down.
This has driven the small producers out of business and for them dubbing films provide good business opportunity," says Kamalakar Reddy, one such producer who is now dealing only in dubbing English movies into Telugu.
The key word is return on investment here, as the film may not guarantee you a windfall of revenues but you certainly won't stand to lose it all. "A dubbing film will incur a cost of Rs 5-25 lakh. Marketed properly, breaking even is not such a tough task and if you make a profit nothing like it," says A Sreedhar, a film distributor.
But then there is a flip side to it too and many like Tammareddy Bharadwaja, the president of the producer's council feel in the long run the trend will hurt the native industry. "To start with, watching dubbed films is just not the same as watching the original. They lack the natural feel. Secondly we cannot really compete with the Hollywood honchos when it comes to the scale or quality and the local industry will only stand to lose eventually," says Tammareddy Bharadwaja.

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