Hollywood to dub films in Indian language

Hollywood to dub films in Indian language
MSM Desai

Hollywood fare may have only managed a foot in the Indian film market's door in 1992, but eight years hence the profits and the audience are really rolling in with the release of dubbed blockbusters. An initial trickle of Rs 38 million in 1992 now stands at a handsome 400 million in 1999-2000 while attendance of Hollywood films has shot up from 8 million in 1992 to 47 million in 1988 and 50 million in 2000, says representative of Twentieth Century Fox, Aditya Shashtri.

Contributing to this whopping figure are top grossers like Jurassic Park, Titanic, Indpendence Day and Godzilla which increase in value at the box-office after being dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Also on the list are Mummy and Deep Blue Sea. Titanic in English did an extraordinary business of nearly Rs 50 crores across the country and has been recently dubbed and released in Hindi in the anticipation of more profits.

Finding that the percentage of English film viewers was a dismal at 5 per cent compared to English speaking countries like Australia, foreign film distributors like Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount, Columbia, Universal and Disney (all part of the Motion Picture Export Association of America) have invested much in dubbing their films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Paramount Pictures, for example, has dubbed 19 films so far of which Jurassic Park, The Lost World, True Lies, The Mummy, Tomarrow Never Dies, Deep Impact, Mission Impossible, and The World Is Not Enough have raked in the millions.

The import of foreign films is not confined to Hollywood-based companies alone but a regular seven or eight importers. Jatin Hemdev, president of Foreign Film Importers Association, said that the business of private importers comes to 25 per cent of Hollywood companies. ``If MPEAA films are grossing Rs 400 million than the share of private importers comes to Rs 100 million. My company has released hits like King Cobra, Dirty Dancing, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Snake Women, Jungle Book Part 2, The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin and Stud. Business of foreign films has increased because the dubbed version reaches a wider audience in spite of a hike in admission rates,'' Hemdev opines.

Also in operation are importers of cheap films which are shown in B and C grade theatres with the interpolation of hard core sex scenes. Though there were once 30 such importers, their number has reduced considerably.

The number of prints of foreign films released has increased from a mere five to 10 prints before globalisation to over 100 prints. Columbia released 163 prints of Godzilla and 100 prints of the End of the Day.

The index of the rising popularity of Hollywood films is reflected in the 200 per cent increase in the shares of Twentieth Century Fox. Says Shastri: ``Hollywood has made movies that have appealed across the world. Though theatre has been affected by video, Hollywood has created films that can be best appreciated on big screen like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Titanic and Godzilla.''

However, not all dubbed films have done well at the box-office. ``Hollywood has conducted a systematic study of film performances of films and is continually improving the quality of films and innovative methods of marketing.''

Uday Singh of Columbia films says that his company had grossed Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crores in 1996 but come 2000 and Rs 55 crore poured in. Columbia has dubbed 18 films including Stuart Little which grossed Rs 5.8 million in the first three days of 41 Indian screenings. In this year, Columbia has already released four dubbed films and six more are in the pipeline this year.

It may be recalled foreign films in English have big market mainly in South. Yet Hollywood is dubbing films in Tamil and Telugu to capture the non-English speaking audience. In order to capture market in North India where English films have not much of a market except in Cities like Delhi, where English films are regularly shown in many cinemas like in Mumbai, films are dubbed in Hindi.