Artistes like Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Manoj Bajpai, Akshay Kumar and Govinda with Bollywood stars and big budget animation films are geared to join the mainstream

Around 200-250 film and TV artistes are doing voiceovers to animation characters - from Ravana, to an evil ant to playing narrator to Alibaba or even to a rich spoilt dog. Collectively, these artistes are involved in over 25-30 animation film projects slated for release in the next six years worth somewhere around Rs 250-300 crore. However, compared to Hollywood where they spend millions, in India budgets are modest. According to estimates, between 5 to 6 per cent of a film’s total budget is being spent on the art of voicing.

Says Mahesh Manjrekar, who has done his first voiceover for Elecom Fiesta Entertainment’s Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang budgeted at Rs 4 crore, “Money did not play a role in my decision in being a voiceover for the character of an evil ant. Animation is an altogether different experience that is to lend one’s voice to characters who do not talk in the real world. I found giving a voiceover offers much more ease while performing compared to a live action film.”

Lending one’s voice for animation films involves a lot of money. Says producer N.D. Nagpal, “Aanjjan Srivastava charged Rs. 25,000 per day for my Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang while Mahesh Manjrekar charged as much as Rs. 1 lakh per day and he finished his work in seven days.” It is reported that Akshay Kumar, his wife Twinkle and their son, while doing voiceover for an upcoming film Jumbo, charged as much as Rs 4.5 crores.

Rahul Bakshi, co-producer of the recently-released Dashavatar, in which Shatrughan Sinha was roped in as a narrator,said, “Since Dashavatar was an animation film of a given era, we wanted voices that would recreate the era. For an actor, to do a voiceover, becomes easy , they being in the business of drama. An actor can dramatise the voiceover and make characters sound real and believable”.

A lot of artistes have either earlier or are currently doing voiceovers. For example in the soon-to-be-released Yash Raj Films’ Roadside Romeo we have Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor giving their voices to the characters in the film. Similarly in Maya Entertainment Ltd’s (MEL) Ramayana-The Epic, Manoj Bajpai plays Ram, Juhi Chawla plays Sita, Ashutosh Rana plays Ravan while Mukesh Rishi plays Hanuman. Says, Ashutosh Rana, “When MEL approached me through dubbing director Sharang Deo who also provides the music, I was excited to no extent. Since wanting to do an epic was on top of my wish list, I grabbed the role, though I asked Deo to show the scenes they had shot as well as the script. Once, I went though the script, I agreed to do the film.” Talking about his experience as a voiceover artiste, Rana avers, “Being from the NSD where we had done a course of voicing, the serial gave me a chance to explore what I had learnt. It was a lovely experience and I finished my part in four days flat spending two hours a day on the job.” The job was not difficult either for according to the character artiste, “Any epic may it be Ramayan or Mahabharata, automatically gets into the thought process of every Indian and always keeps on playing in the subconscious mind of people. The same happened to me and it wasn’t hard to play the character in a given situation.”

Says Juhi Chawla, aka Sita, “I still can’t figure out what made people at MEL consider of my voice for Sita. But, I felt honoured and lucky on being the chosen one to lend my voice to such a significant person from India’s greatest mythological story. I am glad my voice will be recognised as Sita’s in times to come. Ramayana is a story that every one of us has grown up listening to, but it’s nice that youngsters today will get to see it in an animated form that they would love to watch.”

Says Manoj Bajpai, “Chetan Desai approached me and talked about their intention to have my voice for the animated character of Ram and when we met and had a few trial recordings, things got finalised. On the answer as to why I was considered for this particular voiceover, the director would be the best person to answer.” On his feelings of giving his voice to such an important mythological character, Bajpai says, “It’s an achievement of a lifetime for me. I feel absolutely privileged! I have dubbed for countless ordinary movie characters but the feeling of lending my voice to the greatest Indian mythological superhero is very pleasing. Ramayana-The Epic is a movie for the present generation and am glad that have been able to contribute in a small way to get them acquainted to the rich culture of India. I am convinced and content about the fact that my voice will stay forever in the name of Ram.”

Screen India