Bollywood actors step out to dub

While there’s no clarity on when film shoots would begin, actors seem to be slowly getting back to work. Recently, Abhishek Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Amit Sadh, Huma S Qureshi, Kirti Kulhari, Tiger Shroff, Swara Bhasker, Amyra Dastur and Nushrat Bharucha stepped out to dub for their respective projects.

Kulhari, who dubbed for Raj Singh Chaudhary’s film Shadistan, in which she plays a rockstar, was “super thrilled” to get back to work. “It was an hour’s work. The entire office was empty. We wanted to do it with the sound recordist and assistant editor. Everyone was wearing mask and all precautions were taken, so I didn’t have any fear in my head,” she says.

Echoing the sentiment, Bhasker, who dubbed for her web show, Flesh, in Delhi, says the studio was sanitised each time before she entered. “I had my mask and gloves on until I started dubbing. I carried my own water and coffee and didn’t touch anything. We’ll have to embrace the new normal and as they say, the show must go on,” she shares.

Bhasker’s recording session was, interestingly, monitored remotely from Mumbai by director Danish Aslam and sound designers. “When the lockdown started, we actually had fairly little dubbing left and we’ve just about finished,” says Aslam, who is presently scripting his next show.

Trade expert Atul Mohan feels dubbing can be managed well during this time. “Many projects are stuck because dubbing and other postproduction work is left. Now that a lot of films are releasing on OTT, this is the way ahead,” he says.