The Hindi version of the acclaimed Malayalam film Footage (2024) will be released nationwide on March 7. A few days before the release, a five-minute footage of Footage was shown to mediapersons in Mumbai by its team – actors Manju Warrier, Vishak Nair, Gayathri Ashok, co-writer Shabna Mohammed and director Saiju Sreedharan and director-editor-producer-co writer Saiju Sreedharan. Anurag Kashyap, who presented Footage in Malayalam and is now helping it release in Hindi, also made his presence felt and stole the show with his quotes.
Speaking about the film, Manju Warrier said, “We shot the film in just 39 days.” Shabna Mohammed spoke about the lead characters, “Both play YouTubers. They are vloggers. They are so curious about the lives of other people that they want to shoot them too.”. Anurag Kashyap added, “They are nosey. And then they pay the price for being nosy!”
Anurag Kashyap revealed how he came on board, “Manju and I go long back. We have common friends – Geethu Mohandas and Rajiv Ravi. We share the same birthday. My mother’s name is also Manju! I had reached out to her as I was auditioning for Sacred Games. I remember there were floods in Kerala at that time.”
He continued, “She asked me to watch Footage for my feedback. I saw the film and gave my feedback. Then, when she asked me to come on board, I said, ‘I’ll do that happily’!”
Anurag further said, “I see more South films than Hindi. I prefer South films with subtitles as the dubbed versions are very bad. The agencies who take the job of dubbing, woh log randomly dialogues likhte hai. I realized this when I was dubbing for Mohanlal sir for the Hindi version of Malaikottai Vaaliban (2024). I told its director Lijo Jose Pellissery that ‘The Hindi dub script is f**all. The dub is terrible’! I asked him if I could rewrite it. Lijo agreed.”
He added, “Hence for Footage, I told the agency, ‘Treat it like a Hindi film. It should not look like a Malayalam film being dubbed in Hindi’. Hence, we took the same post-production process. We got professionals to dub for the actors so that they sound natural. This process takes time.”
Anurag Kashyap also spoke about his recent acclaimed film, “The reason I can’t see Maharaja (2024) is because it’s so badly dubbed!”
How will people get used to watching original films? Anurag replied, “It’ll happen slowly. I’ll show you German, Italian and Spanish dubbed versions of Gangs Of Wasseypur. If you want to have a good laugh, watch these dubbed versions. Imagine Nawazuddin Siddiqui speaking in Spanish (laughs)! So, the world over, people watch dubbed films except in France, the USA and the UK. In Japan and China, known actors dub for foreign films.”
The challenge of shooting Footage
Footage comes under the ‘found footage’ category. On this, Manju Warrier said, “Every scene is single shot. Once the scene starts, it ends only when the shot ends. We have 6 and 7 minute long takes. Vishak and Gayatri had to handle the camera for certain scenes.”
Vishak Nair revealed, “It was like a dance. It was a heavy machine and required jumping over ropes and cables. Nevertheless, it was fun.”
This writer asked him about a distinct sequence shot in what seemed like a river. Vishak revealed, “It’s a reserve forest. Thankfully, we got permission to shoot there. We had 3-4 people behind us carrying the body of the camera. The lens was in the operator’s hand. We exchanged the camera whenever required. There are some action scenes in the film. You’ll see it and wonder, ‘How did we shoot it?’!” Manju added, “The single shot also included action. Hence, it was very new for all of us.”
The post Anurag Kashyap explains why he worked hard on getting Footage’s Hindi dubbed version right; reveals that dubbed versions over subtitles are preferred worldwide: “If you want to have a good laugh, watch Gangs Of Wasseypur’s European versions. Imagine Nawazuddin Siddiqui speaking in Spanish!” appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
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