But despite what Saif Ali Khan was given to understand, it’s happening
It was a one-of-a-kind Indian film made in English, was screened at nine international film festivals and even bagged a couple of awards recently. And now its producers are dubbing it in Hindi and readying to release the film in the traditional market.
While they wait for the right time for its release, they have retained the English title of the film. But the question is whether a film planned with Parsi characters speaking in English would go down well with audiences used to commercial potboilers.
Says the film’s co-producer Ambika Hinduja, “The film has also been produced by another company and besides there are two financiers. You should ask them about the rationale for deciding to dub it in Hindi.”
In an earlier interview to After Hours, Saif had said, “‘Being Cyrus’ was something that I would have normally not done, but it was radically different, far removed from commercial stuff. I had told them it should not be dubbed in Hindi and pretend to be anything else than what it was intended.”
But now Ambika says, “I think Saif has given his consent to dub it.”
Film director Homi Adajania was stunned, “I am surprised. Really? When we made the film, the intention was never to make it in Hindi to begin with. So about it being dubbed in Hindi (for a theatrical release) is news to me. See, if I was watching a film in Spanish, I would rather watch it with subtitles than see it dubbed. Because dubbing it would take away from the performances.”
r_faheem@dnaindia.net
