Dubbing woes over foreign films
3 min read 23 Jun 2023, 10:09 PM ISTIndustry experts argue that this approach restricts the content’s reach in a country like India, where most viewers prefer dubbed content over subtitled alternatives.
PremiumNEW DELHI : Despite the growing recognition of international language programming in India, certain territories such as South Korea and Japan refuse to grant dubbing rights to film distributors and streaming services.
Instead, they insist on subtitles, aiming to maintain the authenticity of the show or film. However, industry experts argue that this approach restricts the content’s reach in a country like India, where most viewers prefer dubbed content over subtitled alternatives.
“Filmmakers in countries like Japan and Korea often prefer subtitles for their content to preserve authenticity and cultural context. This approach has been widely appreciated by international audiences who enjoy foreign cinema. In India, most viewers prefer dubbed content in their regional languages over subtitles owing to India being a linguistically diverse country, with a rich tapestry of regional languages," Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer, cinemas, BookMyShow said.
While these countries like Korea and Japan may change their stance over time, it is common for filmmakers in certain foreign markets to remain averse to dubbing, said Yusuf Shaikh, business head, feature films at production and distribution firm Percept Pictures. “Their point of view is that the accent could sound funny or the authenticity gets lost. However, in India, dubbing can make a huge difference," Shaikh said adding that the more mainstream the offering, the better chances there are of returns. Dubbing Chinese films such as Enter the Dragon, Shaolin and The Shaolin Temple helped improve reach multifold.
Benefits of dubbing aside, studios and filmmakers in certain markets can also be averse to exploring remake rights of standalone films or shows if the format has already been sold to a streaming platform. “Often there are restrictions on even selling remake rights to other markets and makers in these countries will let go off business but will not explore such deals," said Adita Jain, senior associate vice president, acquisition and syndication, IN10 Media Network.
However, it’s vital to note that the availability of dubbed content may vary based on factors such as the popularity of a film or show, the facilities available for dubbing and licensing agreements between the streaming platform and content providers, BookMyShow’s Saksena pointed out.
“Streaming platforms strive to cater to linguistic preferences but face challenges such as varying dubbing rights across countries all over the world and the cost of dubbing multiple episodes.
Moreover, the nature of the content itself plays a significant role in determining the feasibility of dubbing. For instance, certain shows or series from countries like Korea often consist of a considerable number of episodes, ranging anywhere up to 20 episodes, depending on each title. Dubbing each episode in its entirety can be a resource-intensive process, both in terms of time and cost. Alternatively, subtitling can be relatively more cost-effective as it is usually handled by internal teams," Saksena pointed out. While dubbing may have a slight edge in terms of the audience pool it caters to, in terms of languages spoken and geographies, subtitling works well with language-agnostic movie buffs whose are more interested in the strength of the content offered and the cultural subtext that they can draw from it, Saksena added.
