777 Charlie - the beauty of regional adaptation

I do have mixed opinions about this latest Rakshit Shetty outing, impressing at times and faltering at others, but I am not here to talk about that.

Indian Cinema is going through an unprecedented time, where the cinema industries across regions are exploring multiple territories, and viewers are also receiving cross-cultural content with open arms. Many movies, especially from the regional industries of Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam are getting released with the new tag of ‘Pan-Indian’ cinema, dubbing them in various languages in order to reach more people.

The most common and practical approach adopted is to shoot the movie in the native language (KGF in Kannada, RRR in Telugu, Vikram in Tamil, or Jana Gana Mana in Malayalam) and then dub them into three or four other languages. However, while doing this, what happens in only the dialogues get dubbed while several other linguistic indicators, for example, the billboard in the local language, are often lost in translation.

Here is where the 777 Charlie surprised me the most. I watched the Malayalam adaptation of the Kannada language movie and the holistic adaptation that they have done made the viewing experience way better. For starters, the dubbing of dialogues or the narration to Malayalam is not done in a textbook manner. Rather, regional variations and accents have been brought in to give the viewer a more natural feel. And the makers haven’t left the process just at that.

The scenes showing signboards on streets and on buildings have been reshot with the names in Malayalam. The characters have been rebased to Kerala. There is a scene where a character in the background reads a Malayalam newspaper. I don’t remember that particular character or the newspaper contributing directly to the storyline, yet they made the effort to reshoot. An event happens in the neighborhood, and they play a popular song from a Malayalam movie. The best of all was when they placed an iconic comic scene from a well-celebrated Malayalam movie, and the placing made sense contextually and also added to the humor quotient.

This is the perfect adaptation that I have seen, with little lost in translation. Of course, it takes way more effort to reshoot in four or five different languages. You would need additional props and professionals from the relevant regions to make it authentic. This may not b feasible for all such ‘pan-Indian’ movies. However, the viewer experience was indeed better.

Comments

Chennai Tidbits

‘2/14, Salvation Army Guest House, Doveton St, Chennai’ this address followed by a ten digit phone number was all that I had of Mr. Nageshwar Rao, who was to become my roommate in my new 'home' that Chennai was. Vipin Das is my name, an employee of All India Radio, and I had been transferred from New Delhi to Chennai only a few days ago. So there I was, just outside the Chennai Central, drained and haggard after the grueling train journey that gifted me two sleepless nights. I approached an auto-rickshaw with baggage in my hands, and showed him the address I had. He asked me to get in, and I was traveling through the South Indian metro, a first time in my life. It was only six in the morning, and the city was just waking up. Some young professionals, probably long distance commuters, security guards, newspaper boys on cycle, trucks and light traffic were all I could see on road. I took out that card and dialed Mr. Rao. No response. Maybe he was still sleeping. After all, it

Oh my God!

Dear Jesus, How are you, my friend? Received the letter you sent me the other day. Well, how are things down there? I hope everything is okay, though I’m quite sure it is not a walk on the cake. Do not worry friend, the case is not much different here. Apparently people have become more demanding of late. It is really tiring to constantly hear their persistent requests, demanding one thing or another. No matter how much they already have, they simply need something more. Of course, the demand ranges from health, wealth, fame, to more materialistic ones like physical looks, good looking partners, cars, and houses, so on and on. It is always good to dream of a better life. But, what they forget often are that dreaming and praying for their goals is not just enough. When would they realize that they need to wake up and work for it, too? Hadn’t I told you about that college kid who did not believe in us? Right before his final exams, I saw him praying for an easy test. It re

Book Review : Scion Of Ikshvaku

Author : Amish Tripathi Genre : Mythological Fantasy Published On : 22 June 2015 Watch trailer on Youtube Buy Online! As the makers put it, this first installment of the Ram Chandra series is the most awaited literary blockbuster of the year. The frenzied wait had its effect on me, as I had pre-ordered a copy, days before its release. Obviously, the most weighted factor which prompted me into this craze was The Shiva Trilogy, the previous work of the boring banker turned happy author. Shiva Trilogy achieved its cult status for two major reasons: a) the plot being discussed offered a welcome change from the modern day love stories that had mushroomed up in the post Chetan era. b) The author had meticulously researched through Vedas and other ancient texts, and had reconstructed the very image of Shiva, into a very capable man rather than a miracle performing God. To quote the First City, Amish had succeeded on reintroducing Hindu mythology to the youth of t

can you vish?

Search This Blog