Several entertainment writers from Karnataka had gathered in Chennai on Saturday for the launch of Superstar Rajinikanth’s 2.0 trailer. Speculation was rife that the film will also be dubbed in Kannada, even as dubbing is discouraged in the state.
The calls for dubbed content in Kannada language surfaced once again on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava.
A Twitter campaign was initiated by Kannada Grahakara Okkuta, a pro-Kannada organisation, a group of activists who are in favour of reintroducing dubbing in Kannada.
#ಡಬ್ಬಿಂಗ್_ಇದು_ಕನ್ನಡಪರ (dubbing is not against Kannada) was trending on Twitter on Thursday.
There has been an unofficial ban on dubbed content in Kannada for decades. The ban was put in place as a way to protect the local industry. The Kannada film industry has historically opposed the idea of dubbing as it believes that it will not give room for original content.
"This is a continuation of the campaign we began in August to introduce dubbed content in Kannada. We are currently in discussions with producers, distributors, television networks to allow dubbed content in Kannada," said Arun Javagal, , a member of the Kannada Grahakara Okkuta.
Earlier in August, they began a campaign asking people to insist that shows and films shot in other languages be dubbed in Kannada.
In the past, demands have been raised on several occasions to dub international releases into Kannada. The industry appeared to have softened its stance when it allowed Fast and Furious 8 to be dubbed into Kannada and released in the state in September 2017 as Vega Mattu Udvega. It was hyped as the first time in 45 years a film was dubbed and released in Kannada.However, eventually it was only released in sample theatres and the industry returned to its previous policy of not allowing dubbed releases.
The calls for allowing dubbed content was revived once again this year. Tamil film Vivegam starring Ajith was dubbed and released in Kannada as Commando in August this year. The activists in favour of dubbing believe that the success of Commando is evidence to allow dubbed content in Kannada. "The film released everywhere in the state after it initally released in a few theatres and did reasonably well. It is still running in few theatres. On one hand, audience was eager to see it and on the other hand, producers allowed it to be dubbed and theatre owners took it up. But some distributors are against releasing dubbed content," said Arun Javagal.
While Vivegam/Commando was released, NOTA, another Telugu film which was dubbed in Kannada was not released in the language.
Others in favour of the ban including the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) contend that lifting the ban will lead to television networks dumping dubbed content, thereby affecting the production of local content.