Dubbing is the process of adding new dialogue to a motion picture that has already been shot. It is predominantly used to translate foreign-language films and TV shows into a regional language. Indians have had a decades-long association with dubbed content, particularly due to the airing of Hindi-dubbed South Indian films and American and Japanese TV shows. In Telugu states, there’s a huge demand for Telugu-dubbed Tamil films. The fact that Rajnikanth and Suriya enjoy a huge fan following among the Telugu audience speaks for itself.

Though Indians were familiar with dubbed content, it was in 2015, when S. S. Rajamouli’s magnum opus Bahubali: The Beginning (2015) hit the screens across languages simultaneously and performed well, dubbed films gained prominence. After two years, a sequel, Bahubali: The Conculsion (2017), was released to rave reviews and had an earth-shattering run at the box office. This inspired filmmakers across the country to make high-budget special effects ‘Pan-Indian’ films (films that have a universal appeal and can cater to audiences across languages).

The most notable such work is Prashanth Neel’s KGF film series.

Released in five languages, the saga was not just a massive success but also ground-breaking in terms of vision, scale & technical finesse.

Coincidentally, in 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown came into effect, which shut the theatres down and restricted cinephiles to their households. This gave the audience, particularly those of urban areas, exposure to non-regional dubbed content, which is rich in technical standards and storytelling. As a result, actors who initially had regional popularity have gained fame across the length & breadth of the country.

With that being said, today, there’s a great demand for digital content dubbed across languages implying that there’s a whole new industry – comprised of dialogue writers and dubbing artists – that took birth and gained significance.