Popular TV actor Gaurav Chopra has added one more feather to his cap. His rich baritone voice has earned him the privilege of being the voice of the Hindi version of the international hit film Thor: Ragnarok.
“I watched the earlier two parts to get the feel of the franchise,” says Gaurav to IndianWikiMedia.
It took Gaurav four days to complete the dubbing process. “The character is so larger than life (comic character from another planet) that I end up enacting the scenes (boxing in the air while dubbing).”
He is the voice of the lead, Thor.
“We need to maintain the essence of the film, attitude of the character and also bring in the correct sensibilities of our Indian culture. We would discuss every dialogue, it is not just about mouthing the lines. Sometimes, one single line takes about 15 minutes to get the above boxes ticked. My job was to bring out Thor’s attitude in our desi style. The real challenge is to get the lip sync right. So, we have to finish our Hindi sentences in the same time frame as the original actor had said and also take pauses at the right time.”
Laudable, indeed.
“Here I must give full credit to the dubbing industry. It is a hard job to replicate the American cultural context with desi ones. The money on offer is not great in terms revenues. At end of the day your voice can make and break the film. It also facilitates the entry of international cinema in our languages. Many TV actors who are good in English still prefer to watch western films with subtitles for we some time miss some lines. So if we do the dubbed version right, there is a huge market even among those watch who English films. Maybe future Hindi versions can be bigger than the English versions in India as eventually it all boils down to revenues.”
Gaurav, who is most known for his appearance in Uttaran as Mr Rathod, is quite happy that the Hindi version of Thor has become popular grossing over 45 crores, since its release last Friday.
“The late night Monday show was virtually full. It might become the biggest dubbed Hind hit ever.”
Looking ahead, he has almost finished shooting for his upcoming Alt Balaji web series Four Play.
“”I am also doing a Star Plus project and a film. But I will prefer the makers to make the relevant announcements, ends Gaurav.
We wish him luck and success.