Producers call for ban on dubbed foreign films

The All India Film Producers Council has asked the government of India to ban the dubbing of foreign films in Hindi and other Indian languages forthwith, on the grounds that they not only affected the market for Indian films, but also “spoiled” India’s pristine culture. However, the producers have no objection to allowing the import of any number of foreign films.

“Of late almost all American films are being dubbed into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu which are spoiling India’s culture, reaching as they do, a wider Indian audience. What’s worse, they also corner the Hindi film market, with distribution rights for each territory sold for as cheap as Rs 18 lakh. Even the price of the locally-made low-budget Hindi films is far higher,” stated Pahlaj Nihalani, president of the All India Film Producers Council.

According to statistics released by the Central Board of Film Certification, the import of foreign films has jumped from 180 in 1998 to 203 in 1999, an increase of 23 feature films. In 1999, 42 dubbed films were released as against 28 in the previous year, an increase of 20 films.

It may be recalled that last year, the Theatre Owners Association had imposed a ban on dubbed foreign films on the Mumbai circuit. Its president UA Thadani had justified it on the grounds that dubbed films spoiled India’s culture, as they reached the gullible masses.

Pahlaj Nihalani further clarified that India’s producers were not against the import of foreign films, but dubbing them in Hindi and other languages meant capturing the Indian market through the backdoor, taking away the mass audience for indigenous productions and cornering the theatres, which as things stood, were few and far between, considering India’s population.

“When films like Jurassic Park, Titanic, Godzilla, James Bond’s The World Is Not Enough, Matrix or The Bone Collector are dubbed in Hindi, they directly compete with Indian films, which cannot afford to match the technical standards of American films. Obviously the local audience will prefer to see the dubbed versions, which are technically far superior. We haven’t objected to the increase in the number of imported films because these films cater only to the tastes of the enlightened audience, which can differentiate between foreign and Indian culture,” he pointed out.

Pahlaj further argued that if dubbed films are repeatedly exhibited all over India, they will only serve to create a taste for such films. “All over Europe, there is a move to stop the import of Hollywood films because they affect the market for local productions. Even France has objected to the monopoly of Hollywood films, because the collections of French films have fallen drastically, resulting in fewer French productions. Right from the start, Indian films have braved and withstood the domination of American films, unlike in Europe, because the Indian audience has had a predilection for song and dance. The non-dubbed foreign releases captured but a five per cent share of the of Indian market. It doesn’t cost them much to dub their films in Indian languages and sell them at throw-away prices to Indian territories. Since these films are generally exhibited on a percentage basis, they take away the cream of the income from the Indian market. It is high-time the American film distributors took notice of Indian sentiment,” he said.

MSM Desai