Tamil serials skid on dubbed soaps - DABH

When television soap En Kanavan En Thozhan is on air on Vijay TV, a certain section of people in Tamil Nadu sit glued to their idiot boxes. Like a typical Kyunki… saas-bahu serial (made famous by Ekta Kapoor) the story moves ever so slowly; the pace of dialogue delivery at times putting a tortoise to shame. The costumes are clearly North Indian, perhaps rural Rajasthani. Indeed, the whole soap is a dubbed version of Diya Aur Baati Hum, first aired on Star Plus two years ago. All that does not bother its dedicated fan following. Stare as hard as you will at them — actress Neelu Vaghela essaying the role of Saroja in the serial took staring to a new level; in fact entire episodes have been consumed by her fiery glare – but they cannot be bothered. Incoming phone calls at that hour are among the biggest irritants.

Diya Aur Baati Hum was among the most watched shows on Star Plus when it was originally aired. Got it? It is the fight for TRPs (Television Rating Points) in a seemingly saturated market with a big squeeze on ad revenue that is driving Tamil General Entertainment Channels (GECs) towards dubbed soaps from other languages, but the audience isn't complaining.

Tamil audiences are no strangers to dubbed serials. As early as the mid-1990s, Hindi mega-dramas with national following found their way onto screens in the State through Doordarshan. Viewers complained and then joked about the terrible quality of Tamil dubbing, but continued to watch them anyway. Tamil Nadu, it seems, has returned to those days. Not just En Kanavan En Thozhan, a significant number of serials on Tamil GECs are now dubbed from other languages. This is like throwing mud into the meal of Tamil TV serial production houses and technicians. Whatever happened to Tamil pride in our living rooms?

The present trend has been attributed to the launch of a number of GECs over the past six or seven years. Polimer TV, Zee Tamil, Mega TV, Vasanth TV, Captain TV and Kalaignar TV are among the channels that have been launched during this period. All of these channels have had to vie with well established old-timers like Sun TV, Star Vijay, Raj TV and Jaya TV for content. The new GECs have also had to take definitive steps to ensure they look, sound and feel different from their senior competitors.

With most production houses already contracted to making years-long mega serials for the established channels, the newer ones have found their calling in dubbing studios. They purchase Hindi mega serials for low prices and dub them. This is hassle-free and has removed the need to deal with local production houses, many of whom are set in their ways and resist changes to programming patterns.

The process of dubbing the Tamil airwaves has been further accelerated by channels like Zee Tamil and Star Vijay, both of whom are part of large networks with channels in many languages. They have found a wealth of content readily available, sitting boxed up in their Hindi channel offices. This proved to be the game changer. Other Tamil GECs flocked to purchase the rights to serials from other Hindi channels that did not have a presence in Tamil Nadu, like Sony, Imagine and Colors.

Now, there is no dearth of dubbed Hindi serials. Many avid serial viewers do not even notice that the show they are watching has been dubbed. They realise its non-Tamil origin only when an actress turns up in a sari draped in a typically North Indian style.

All of this has left Tamil serial producers, directors, script writers, technicians and actors found wanting in the area of evolution and adaptation. Having gotten into routines and set patterns over their content over the years, they have found that the grip they thought they had over the attention of housewives, senior citizens and other serial buffs was nothing but the emperor's new clothes.

The Tamil TV serial fraternity had stayed silent when their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh started protesting the number of Tamil and Hindi serials that were being dubbed into Telugu. But now, they find themselves in a similar predicament. Even as an increasing number of Telugu channels assured the protesting serial industry that they would not air dubbed serials any more, there has been no similar promise from Tamil channels. The dubbing studio is a comfort that they are not yet willing to give up.