Dubbing controversy embroils Kiron Kher's National Award for Best Actress

Kiron kher: Voice troubleDid she or did she not? That is the million dollar question. With Kiron Kher winning the National Award for best actress for her lead role in the Bengali feature filmBariwali(directed by Rituparno Ghosh and produced by Anupam Kher) a shrill controversy is now raging over whether she dubbed the film in her own voice or not.Kiron may not be a prolific actress but few will deny that she would like to be remembered as an actress of substance. From Darmiyan to Sardari Begumshe has been the diva of the offbeat. So when she is not anchoring gender and issue-based talk shows for television channels she is doing major roles in art cinema celebrating the marginals.But great actors invariably get embroiled in petty controversies. Doing roles in a language in which one is not fluent is never easy. Add to this the categorical claim by a Bengali television and film actress, Reeta Kayral, that contrary to Kiron's claims, she, Kayral, had dubbed the entire role for Kiron. Here you have a full-blown fracas with accusations and clarifications flying across the sharply polarised film world between Tollygunje and Bollywood."It's shameful. I won't be producing any more Bengali films."Anupam Kher, producer, BariwaliAccording to Kayral, she dubbed for Kiron based on the pilot track (the "live" sound during shooting) which had Kiron's voice, including some lines spoken in Hindi when Kiron had her back to the camera. "Otherwise, why would the director pay me to do it?" she asks.And moreover, why would the producer offer her half of the award money? "Anupam Kher called me several times. He wanted to know about the dates of the dubbing, etc. Then he said that I deserved 50 per cent of the National Award remuneration if I had dubbed for Kiron," says Kayral.Kayral claims she has dubbed every frame of the film from dialogues to weeping and breathing, including the complicated climatic scene where Kiron is holding onto the cupboard and crying. This scene was so difficult, says Kayral, that "I literally did the dubbing for that scene with glycerine in my eyes".With Kher negotiating the release of the film in Bengal around Durga Puja, neither Kayral nor anyone else in Calcutta has seen the final print of Bariwali as yet. But Kayral says people on the jury, particularly the chairman, Goutam Ghosh, have told her that they recognised the voice as hers. "Goutamda said to me, 'I have known Kiron for a long time and I know she cannot speak such good Bengali'," says Kayral, who played a cameo role herself in Aparna Sen's Paromitar Ek Din, the other contender for the National Award."Let Kiron read out one page from the script. Her Bengali is awful."Reeta Kayral, Bengali actressWhen a film is entered for competition for a National Award, its producer has to specify if it has been dubbed in the actors' own voices. In this case, it is learnt that Kher had ambiguously filled the word "re- dubbed" in the form. To add to the confusion Rituparno has said he hasn't yet seen the final print. "Now, is that not incredible?" asks Kayral.Sources within the jury and the Government disclose that the jury was deeply split over this film. The Bengali speaking members were convinced that it was not Kiron's own voice, but in the face of a written declaration by producer Anupam Kher to the contrary they had to take it at face value. There were some members who held that voice and dialogue articulation were a vital part of acting. The opposing group (said to have been led by Mumbai director Saeed Akhtar Mirza) insisted that Kiron's body language and expressions were of such high quality that dialogue delivery wasn't of much consequence.They also cited the precedent set by actresses like the Malayalam speaking Sharda who have been honoured for roles in regional films where their voices had been dubbed by others. "Our work as jury ends with the selections," says Goutam."The rest is up to the festival directorate to investigate. If Reeta Kayral can prove it's her voice, then some steps need to be taken. An easy solution would be to give a citation and acknowledge the fact that she dubbed for Kiron. This should not detract from Kiron's acting."While not willing to be drawn into the controversy herself, Kiron has told friends that she had learnt Bengali for six months before doing the film, but added the rider that even if the film was dubbed, there was a precedence of actors getting the National Award for roles in films where their dialogues had been dubbed by someone else.Indeed, that is not the issue. The issue is whether the Kher couple gave a misleading declaration to the jury and the Films Division to the effect that Kiron had dubbed the film in her own voice. When asked for his reaction, Anupam Kher is both angry and hurt: "Instead of applauding that a non-Bengali mainstream actor has spent Rs 40-50 lakh producing a film that has won several international awards, they are trying to discredit a person who spent six months learning the language. It's a shame.Obviously, I won't be producing any more Bengali films." Kayral on her part throws a challenge, "Let Kiron read out one page of the script in Bengali. I have heard her Bengali and it is awful."Meanwhile the film has already bagged an impressive list of international awards including Best Narrative Feature at the San Francisco Film Festival, Netpac Award at the Berlin Film Festival, an audience rating of four out of five at Sydney and has also been invited to the London Film Festival in November. One thing is certain, for the right reasons or wrong, when it is released in October, Bariwaliis bound to run to full houses both in Bengal and beyond. - with Anupama ChopraPublished By: AtMigration Published On: Sep 4, 2000 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Dubbing controversy embroils Kiron Kher's National Award for Best Actress

A Bengali actress claims she dubbed for Kiron Kher in her award-winning film. Did the Khers mislead the jury?

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