At the age of eight, singer Armaan Malik first lent his voice to an English boy in Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan (2010). Almost a decade later, he is all set to make his international debut as a dubbing artiste and singer in Disney’s reboot of Aladdin. “As a child, I have done a lot of dubbing and that has helped in honing my skills,” recalls Malik, as we chat in a suburban hotel. His association with Disney India also began at a young age. In 2012, he made a guest appearance in The Suite Life of Karan & Kabir, which was an Indian adaptation of American teen sitcom, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. This year, when he stepped into Mona Shetty’s Sound and Vision studio in Andheri to dub for the character of Aladdin, all those memories came flooding back.
For the Hindi version of Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin, Malik has dubbed for Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud. As a 90s kid, Malik fondly describes the world of Disney as “magical” and “a whole new world”. He says the project has taken him a step closer to realising his ultimate goal of becoming an “international singer”.
More than a voice
When asked if he was looking for more dubbing projects, the 22-year-old singer says, “Definitely, even though I have done it a lot in my career [as a child], people have not heard my dubbing skills [recently].” Besides delivering dialogues, he is also singing songs from the soundtrack with music composer and rapper, Badshah, who has created a promotional song and music video for the live-action remake.
While dubbing, Malik’s focus on grasping the “right feel of the film” which would help him get into the character of Aladdin. The most challenging aspect was to “maintain the cohesiveness and the tonality of the voice throughout”. “I cannot be Armaan [when I am dubbing]”, he says. Malik was nervous on the first day of dubbing but he soon realised that Aladdin represents the “basic emotions” we all experience. For Malik, Aladdin is an ordinary boy in an extraordinary universe.