“Suhasini Ma’am had come for the dubbing one day and she showed me how to do it. Simran had a very distinct way of speaking and it took me days to understand her modulation. Suhasini Ma’am was so experienced that she could do it instantly. I can never forget it,” said Venkat.
By the time Ponniyin Selvan-1 (2022) was made, Venkat was a seasoned professional. Still, the senthamizh (classical Tamil) spoken in the period drama wasn’t easy to master.
“For PS-1, the challenge was that there were words we didn’t know that we had to say – like ‘kalathalapathi’ (the head of an army). We all dubbed it as kaLAthalapathi, but it was only in the end that someone pointed out that it is ‘kalathalapathi’. Also, you are used to saying certain words in a flow, but while dubbing, you have to be conscious of getting the pronunciation right while speaking naturally,” said Venkat.
The ‘zha’ syllable was quite a problem for many of the actors to pronounce properly in PS-1, added Venkat. While one can get away with it in a contemporary film, a period drama demands strict adherence to the pronunciation.
“You can’t get away with saying ‘Arunmoli’, you have to say ‘Arunmozhi’. The sound engineer recording your voice also has to be able to hear what you’re saying clearly. But, focusing too much on the pronunciation means you lose out on the expression,” pointed out Venkat.
Thankfully, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who plays Nandini, had done her job well, and this made the dubbing process easier.