Begin typing your search above and press return to search.
Have Telugu Audiences Started Rejecting Dub Movies?
By: Tupaki Desk | 23 Sep 2019 8:34 AM GMT
Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada Industries never had big dubbing market in Telugu. Only devotional films had great market and all others used to get remade.
A formula that worked for AVM Productions in 60's when the filmmaking business surged in South India. They used to bank on multi-linguals or dubbing films to grow their market.
As the audiences started getting accustomed to watching films at theatres and not dramas, the dubbing market started flourishing. Slowly, Kamal Hassan, Rajnikanth made their presence felt.
Another major stem for dubbing market from 60's was adult films. Horror, erotic and sex clips added films used to be released as theater feeding films before a big star film could replace it.
Until 1987-88, every hero used to do 5 - 7 films every year and that used to keep dub films at bay. But few theatres grew reputation for showcasing only adult films and some dubbed films.
It is Kamal Hassan who opened a wider market for Tamil films by going to every big language and being part of their films. In Telugu, as he opened a wider market, Bhagyaraja, Bharatiraja and Balachander films which used to be remade, got wider releases after their run in Tamil Nadu.
Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth started attracting people here but Bhagyaraja, Balachander, Visu commanded even wider reach with their family movies. For Visu, the market opened two ways - remakes and dubs.
Hence, Tamil movies and heroes always had additional market to tap into with Telugu language with dubs. Rajnikanth's Basha made him South Indian star and all his older films released as dubbing films, in 1990's.
Kamal used to have such an impact before Basha. Vijay and Ajith never got bigger acceptance in Telugu but Ajith's films until 2005, used to release in two states for Telugu audiences. He saw major hits with Premalekhalu and Vaali.
Vijay until Theri never could imagine a Telugu market but today, he has a decent following. It is Suriya and Vikram, who looked like Kamal and Rajni replacements for dubbing movie business.
With these two entering the market, production houses from Telugu also started looking at making direct or bilinguals with them. Today, Suriya films don't even get a good opening number and Chiyaan Vikram's market is almost extinct.
To an extent, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Mani Ratnam (if film is good and have stars), Vijay and Ajith can say that have a market of 1.5-2.5 crores share guarantee, on opening weekend but all others have fallen below that.
Unfortunately, Suriya fell below such guarantees with Bandobast and Rajni may pull a good opening but he too, is not seen as the big star pull now-a-days.
We don't see Lakshmi Ganapathi Films or some other dubbing film oriented production banners anymore that used to aggressively buy rights and release here.
This dip in dubbing market is a big loss for voice actors or dubbing artists who made a career out of it. Bommali Ravishankar, Sai Kumar, Ghantasala Ratnakumar, writer Vennelakanti, his son and writer Shashank Vennelakanti are pioneers of dubbing industry in Telugu but today, they are almost out of work.
Ravishankar is busy in Kannada as actor and his career is set as he gives voice to villains in Telugu. Sai Kumar is now a seasoned supporting actor in Telugu and Kannada.
What about the other budding dubbing artists and seniors, who made millions as just being dubbing artists? Well, some are retiring, some settled as voice actors for other language actors but many will have no livelihood if the downfall continues like this.
May be digital medium might open for them as not all will be happy to read subtitles, some illiterates as far as English language is concerned might prefer listening and for them, adding audio in local languages might be fruitful down the line. Anyone thinking about it, yet?
A formula that worked for AVM Productions in 60's when the filmmaking business surged in South India. They used to bank on multi-linguals or dubbing films to grow their market.
As the audiences started getting accustomed to watching films at theatres and not dramas, the dubbing market started flourishing. Slowly, Kamal Hassan, Rajnikanth made their presence felt.
Another major stem for dubbing market from 60's was adult films. Horror, erotic and sex clips added films used to be released as theater feeding films before a big star film could replace it.
Until 1987-88, every hero used to do 5 - 7 films every year and that used to keep dub films at bay. But few theatres grew reputation for showcasing only adult films and some dubbed films.
It is Kamal Hassan who opened a wider market for Tamil films by going to every big language and being part of their films. In Telugu, as he opened a wider market, Bhagyaraja, Bharatiraja and Balachander films which used to be remade, got wider releases after their run in Tamil Nadu.
Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth started attracting people here but Bhagyaraja, Balachander, Visu commanded even wider reach with their family movies. For Visu, the market opened two ways - remakes and dubs.
Hence, Tamil movies and heroes always had additional market to tap into with Telugu language with dubs. Rajnikanth's Basha made him South Indian star and all his older films released as dubbing films, in 1990's.
Kamal used to have such an impact before Basha. Vijay and Ajith never got bigger acceptance in Telugu but Ajith's films until 2005, used to release in two states for Telugu audiences. He saw major hits with Premalekhalu and Vaali.
Vijay until Theri never could imagine a Telugu market but today, he has a decent following. It is Suriya and Vikram, who looked like Kamal and Rajni replacements for dubbing movie business.
With these two entering the market, production houses from Telugu also started looking at making direct or bilinguals with them. Today, Suriya films don't even get a good opening number and Chiyaan Vikram's market is almost extinct.
To an extent, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Mani Ratnam (if film is good and have stars), Vijay and Ajith can say that have a market of 1.5-2.5 crores share guarantee, on opening weekend but all others have fallen below that.
Unfortunately, Suriya fell below such guarantees with Bandobast and Rajni may pull a good opening but he too, is not seen as the big star pull now-a-days.
We don't see Lakshmi Ganapathi Films or some other dubbing film oriented production banners anymore that used to aggressively buy rights and release here.
This dip in dubbing market is a big loss for voice actors or dubbing artists who made a career out of it. Bommali Ravishankar, Sai Kumar, Ghantasala Ratnakumar, writer Vennelakanti, his son and writer Shashank Vennelakanti are pioneers of dubbing industry in Telugu but today, they are almost out of work.
Ravishankar is busy in Kannada as actor and his career is set as he gives voice to villains in Telugu. Sai Kumar is now a seasoned supporting actor in Telugu and Kannada.
What about the other budding dubbing artists and seniors, who made millions as just being dubbing artists? Well, some are retiring, some settled as voice actors for other language actors but many will have no livelihood if the downfall continues like this.
May be digital medium might open for them as not all will be happy to read subtitles, some illiterates as far as English language is concerned might prefer listening and for them, adding audio in local languages might be fruitful down the line. Anyone thinking about it, yet?
