“I gained a lot of attention only after director Shankar’s Jeans when I dubbed for Aishwarya Rai. However, when more north Indian actors started acting in Tamil and Telugu films, that’s when people realised that there should be someone else dubbing for them,” says Savitha. “Even back then, we had several voice artists dubbing for actors like Radha, Amala and Kushboo. The role of a voice artist was quite unknown among the audience during the eighties and the nineties. Today, there’s a union for dubbing artists called South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU) formed almost 30 years ago and is currently headed by KR Selvaraj. This perhaps laid the first stone for dubbing in the industry as we know it. AVM had done something no producer would dare to do after the release of a film.” Reels were recalled and new ones rushed to theatres in cars and trains. Pragati technicians worked round the clock to synchronise voice and lip. On hearing feedback that the singing of Rukmini lacked pep, Meiyappan made a bold move and roped in Periyanayaki to sing playback. “A revolution of sorts happened at this time. Sri Valli, a folk mythology, the favourite story of Tamils, hit the bull's eye.” AT Krishnaswamy wrote the dialogue to match the lip movements of the actors. Randor Guy writes in The Hindu, “A milestone was crossed in 1943 with the making of Harishchandra, dubbed from Kannada to Tamil. It was AV Meiyappan, the country’s most lauded pioneer in cinema, who set the earliest stage for dubbing. When the silent era progressed to the talkies, the need for actors to use their own voice became imminent.ĭuring the initial days, most actors spoke their own dialogues and many even sang their own songs - M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, K B Sundarambal were well known for their vocal prowess.

Telugu serial actors