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Dubbing King Lost Money on Jurassic Park!
31 Jan
Summary
- Ashim Samanta dubbed India's first Hollywood film, Jurassic Park.
- He initially incurred a loss of Rs. 10,000 on the Hindi version.
- An Urdu version for Pakistan turned the project profitable.
Ashim Samanta, son of filmmaker Shakti Samanta, is recognized as India's 'dubbing king.' He revealed his role in dubbing Jurassic Park, the pioneering Hollywood film to receive a Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu dub in India in 1993.
Samanta's studio was initially paid Rs. 3.5 lakhs for the Hindi version of Jurassic Park, incurring a personal loss of Rs. 10,000 due to production costs. However, a subsequent Urdu version for Pakistan, which required minimal re-dubbing, proved profitable.
His career began with dubbing films in Bengali in 1975, notably Aradhana. This success led to a temporary ban on Hindi film dubbing in the Bengali film industry, later overturned by the Supreme Court.
With hundreds of theatrical films and thousands of OTT titles dubbed, Samanta's studio has a significant workload. He expressed reservations about AI in dubbing, emphasizing the creative and emotional nuances that human artists bring to the process.
