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

Roasted

At Chico’s home ‘Mama, you promised to take me out for lunch on Sunday if I got good grades in the exams…’ seven-year-old Chico complained to his mother, Laila, as she lay confined to the comforts of her couch on a lazy Sunday morning. ‘Ugh…’ Laila groaned as she continued to scroll through reels. 'And we will go on a Sunday!’ ‘Today is Sunday, Mama!’ Chico started pulling at his mama bear’s arms. ‘Well, another one is due in seven days…’ Laila muttered, unwilling to move, but the thought of not having to cook lunch did tempt her. ‘Okay, if I promised you, you shall have it. Tell me what you want. I'll order…’ ‘No, Mama, I want to go out and dine, and I want you to take a selfie at the restaurant and post it, and I want my friends to ask me about it in class.’ Laila pulled her eyes from the screen and looked at her son. He was growing smart indeed. ‘Okay, fine, you got it. What do you want to have, though?’ ‘Roasted Chicken!’ At Durien’s Chicken Farm ‘But why can’t we go ou...

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...

Familial Cowswami

Last day, I had the misfortune of interacting with the husband of one of my cousins at a family event. Since we’ve already established my feelings toward him, let me clarify that he is not an evil person. It’s just that our ideologies and outlooks toward life could poetically be described as Yin-Yang—completely opposite, with no common ground. That’s fine; everyone is entitled to their vision, as long as they don’t try to claim their vision as the only correct one and attempt to shove it on others who haven’t asked for advice. After exchanging pleasantries, we got down to the “real talk.” He started by asking me why I am still sticking around here (India) and not moving abroad. To set the context, he has been working in the Middle East ever since I first met him at my cousin’s wedding, around fourteen years ago. His wife and kids, who used to live with him, recently moved to Canada, possibly to settle there once he retires. Of course, moving abroad seems to be the trend (or even the no...

can you vish?

Search This Blog