Lament of the loyalists!

It’s clearly a masterpiece. R K Narayan’s iconic Malgudi Days directed by Shankar Nag (which used to air on Doordarshan in Hindi in the late 80s) continues to remain verdant in the minds of its watchers, especially those, with an innate connect with Karnataka. Fast forward to over two decades, and the irony – of the classic show not being dubbed in Kannada, but in other Indian languages like Marathi, Telugu and Bengali – remains. While the reason can be attributed to the Kannada industry’s aversion towards dubbing, a lot of the language’s loyalists are up in arms (almost), demanding a dubbed version of the classic opera in Kannada too. Which in turn, has sparked off a trending social media campaign #MalgudiDaysInKannada.

A volley of Bengalrueans are vouching for the serial to be dubbed in Kannada. But, there is also a mixed reaction among loyalists and industry insiders... we delve deeper.

“Dubbing will not help! For me Malgudi is all about RK Narayan as a writer! He has written that in English, and Shankar Nag directed it in Hindi, set against the backdrop of a village in Karnataka. Today if we have to do it, then some has to adapt the essence of the stories into Kannada and then redo it,” comments Abhishek Iyengar, a theatre director and playwright.

Vouching by a different perspective, Sindhu Hegde, a communication catalyst, justifies the controversy. “Of course, people of Karnataka have every reason to demand the dubbing of Malgudi Days in Kannada. I remember watching parts of the show, but not being an avid viewer because it was in Hindi and I couldn’t understand a lot of it. Had it been in Kannada, I wouldn’t have missed an episode. The reason for the dubbing of it to have not come through yet is because the the Association is living under a misconception that dubbing a few shows will kill their business i.e  their regular programmes/ movies. The truth is, content is king. So, irrespective of whether something can be dubbed or not, the audiences will surely watch only shows that deliver in terms of interesting content and great quality. A show like Malgudi Days needs to be watched. So, I totally understand the annoyance of people on social media supporting the #MalgudiDaysinKannada campaign.”

 The success of the entire controversy lies in the initiation, believes film-maker K.M Chaitanya. “The Supreme Court has clearly said Dubbing cannot be banned. Now it is a matter between the producer of Malgudi Days and the Kannada channels. If the producer wants to dub, and if Kannada channels are willing to air it, then they should decide on what to do. If there are protests, they should face it. RK Narayan wrote Malgudi Days in English. Shankar Nag made it in Hindi. Now if some people say it has to be in Kannada alone for people to enjoy it, those people should take the initiative.”

Expert views :  A channel head, who refuses to be named, tells Bengaluru Chronicle.  “Of course, channels are aware of the demand for the show to be made in Kannada, but nobody wants to awaken a sleeping lion. There are a certain set of people who are not okay with this, and that is why we haven’t made one yet. The chances of dubbing the show in Kannada is very bleak, no matter how irked the audiences are. Dubbing is not a bad thing at all, and while it’s illegal to stop someone from dubbing, we still have a long battle to fight.”