Dubbing

Abstract

While scholarship on dubbing, which has been overwhelmingly Eurocentric, has primarily focused on dubbing as a form of audiovisual translation (Abend-David, 2014; Bosseaux, 2015; Buffagni & Garzelli, 2013; Chaume, 2012; Cintas & Anderman, 2008; Ferrari, 2011; Pavesi et al., 2015), dubbing encompasses much more than translation in South Asian media industries. Dubbing, in fact, is a central industrial practice that is critical to understanding the diverse aesthetic and political ideologies, labour arrangements and production practices of South Asian film and media forms in their linguistic multiplicity (Chattopadhyay, 2015; Hoek, 2009; Mohaiemen, 2016; Srinivas, 2003; Srinivas et al., 2018). Here, I focus on mainstream film industries where dubbing is not regarded as a problem or ‘loss’ (Gambier, 2012) but is rather a widespread, well-known and creative practice to manage risk, adapt to uncertainty and reach the widest audiences. By decoupling actors’ voices from their bodies, dubbing is a form of risk management and comparative advantage that allows media producers in South Asia to incorporate a diverse range of individuals into the media-making process who, for one reason or another, may not have been considered suitable (Hoek, 2009). While dubbing can be seen as an adaptive and enabling practice, it also reinforces certain aesthetic, gender and social hierarchies. The three main modes of dubbing within mainstream media industries are the substitution of a singer’s voice for an actor’s – commonly referred to as ‘playback singing’; the re-recording of dialogue by actors after principal photography and editing has taken place, which is called ‘ADR’ or automated dialogue replacement in Western contexts but is referred to as ‘dubbing’ in South Asian contexts; and the replacement of the film, television or web series’ dialogues with translated ones, which is the more conventional understanding of dubbing across the world. When the technique of ‘playback singing’ – recording a song in advance and having the actor lip-synch the lyrics – became standard practice from 1935 onward (Rajadhyaksha & Willemen, 1999, p. 20), it revolutionised film production in the subcontinent. Actors and actresses no longer needed to be able to sing; the visualisation of song sequences was liberated from having to record the song simultaneously with the picture; and the release of the film’s soundtrack prior to its opening provided a ready form of publicity. Playback singing quickly became an accepted practice, giving rise to