Shabby Treatment

Generally, South Indian filmmakers hand a film over to an agency for dubbing. They would simply lend their voices for the Hindi version and finish off the work within a few hours.

Initially, Baahubali 1 also faced the same attitude. “There was so much resistance in the beginning,” says Devika Bahudhanam, the dubbing in-charge of both parts of the film. She went to Mumbai along with the producer, where they initially gave the film to an agency, who did a bad job “When I said that the person dubbing for a character did it incorrectly. They looked at me as if they knew better,” she says.

However, Devika was stubborn and played an important role, without which Karan Johar may not have liked the film. She even ordered the artists to walk out of the room, if they didn’t wish to listen to her. Devika was clear that the film was not a South film, but an Indian film! The game changed when the first part was released, and swept the box office. “I still have the messages they sent after the release, that they were happy to be part of the film,” says Devika.