I have an interesting story to share with you all. It's about how I got a chance to dub for a Telugu series in Hindi, even though I was not confident about my skills and had to travel a long distance. Here's how it happened.
I was in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, taking classes in Kalarippayattu, a martial art form. One day, I got a WhatsApp message from Ajay, who was looking for a voice actor for the lead role of a Telugu series. He said he got my name from a director in Hyderabad who had worked with me earlier this year. He asked me for some details about the project and wanted to hear my voice sample.
Infinitum Media, Studio
At first, I was not sure if I should take up this offer or not. There were two reasons for my hesitation. One, Hyderabad was 1557 km away from Thiruvananthapuram, and I didn't know how to arrange my travel and stay. Two, I was not confident about my dubbing skills, as I had never done it before. I was about to reply "not interested" to Ajay, but then I had a second thought. Maybe this was a sign from the universe to open a new path for me as an artist. Maybe I should give it a try and see what happens. So I decided to talk to him and see if the project suited me and everything fell into place.
After talking to him, I felt more positive about the opportunity. He liked my voice and agreed to pay me what I asked for. The only problem was that he wanted me to reach Hyderabad by 8th November and have a meeting with him in the evening. That meant I had to book a train ticket as soon as possible. But when I checked the IRCTC portal, I found out that the tatkal tickets were sold out. I had no choice but to book a waitlisted ticket and hope for the best. It was a 31-hour journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Hyderabad, but I was determined to catch the train with or without a confirmed ticket. I thought I could pay the ticket collector the extra amount and manage without a seat if needed. The train was scheduled to leave Thiruvananthapuram at 6:45 AM, so I set my alarm for 4 AM and went to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up and checked my phone. To my relief, my ticket was confirmed! That was one less thing to worry about. But I still had to figure out where to stay in Hyderabad, as I had told Ajay that I was a local artist and would take care of my own food, lodging and travel expenses. Luckily, I had some friends in Hyderabad who were kind enough to let me stay with them for 2-3 days. Thanks to Sharash for his hospitality!
I arrived in Hyderabad and met Ajay, the director of the dubbing studio. He wanted to test my voice and modulation for the character I was going to dub for. He was a bit doubtful because I took some extra time to catch the emotion and modulation of the character, and he wanted it done quickly. I explained to him that I was not an experienced dubbing artist and that I needed some time to get used to the process. I assured him that I would catch the rhythm in 2-3 hours and that I would not take much time after that.
The first day was a bit rough for me. I was nervous and I did not manage my body physiology well. I did not know when to take breaks, when to eat, or what to eat. But the second day, I was prepared for the challenge. I understood the main challenges and how to deal with them. I knew that there would be difficulties, but I took this opportunity as a learning opportunity, like a 3-day crash course on dubbing.
On the second day, I had to dub for a Telugu song of Pawan Kalyan. It was a catchy and energetic song that required a lot of expression and enthusiasm. I practiced the song in the morning, but I was not sure if they would like it or not. But to my surprise, I nailed it in just 2 takes! Ajay was impressed by this and said that he did not expect me to do it so fast and so well.
The third day was more smooth than the last two days. But there were still some places where I got stuck, especially with some words that sounded similar but had different meanings. For example, I confused "separate state" with "separate estate" and "separate status" with "separate estatus". These kind of things happened on the last day, but I corrected them quickly.
Overall, these 3 days were a learning experience for me. I learned a lot about dubbing as an artist. Shiva, who was the sound engineer, praised my voice quality and also taught me many technicalities about dubbing. He also gave me some valuable feedback on what are my strengths and weaknesses as a dubbing artist. I listened to his feedback and implemented it immediately. Some things I will learn over time. But one thing I was happy about was my daily practice with my voice like riyaz, chanting, breathing exercises, vocal exercises that I learned from Sri Ram Center of Performing Arts, Delhi from where I took my acting training. I still do those practices everyday. It is paying off in unexpected ways.
Nishant B. Kumar, Actor, Dubbing Artist
Cheeers budddy!! Congratulations!