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| WATCHING
AVATAR'S GRANDDAD? |
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How often have you been fascinated / amused
by the Tamil title of an English movie?
Quite often - if you are not one who simply
hates the idea of dubbing English movies
into local languages. It is difficult
to retrace the origins of this practice.
Earlier the titles used to be pretty straightforward
translations of what the English original
was called, or at best, a title which
quite clearly stated what the movie would
offer. But, nowadays, rechristening the
films in Tamil has become an art unto
itself. Titles are no longer simple translations
- they are supposed to be eye catchers
which can make anyone of us feel compelled
to take a second look.
The first movie of this kind that strikes
one’s memory is Rob-B-Hood, the
Jackie Chan starrer released in 2007 that
was renamed in Tamil as ‘Athiradi
Jackieyum Sutti Kuzhandayum’. That
title did convey very clearly that this
was a Jackie Chan movie, very clever and
eye catchy. But, what happens when the
movie does not contain huge stars familiar
to our audiences. That is the time when
the imagination factor kicks in. Everyone
must be familiar with 300, the action
packed film about the Spartans. Of course,
it had no big stars, but it did make its
mark with the dubbed Tamil version and
credit for its performance must go to
its very imaginative title
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– ‘300 Paruthiveerargal’. The timing
couldn’t have been better because this movie
came at a time when the Tamil Paruthiveeran was making
waves at the box office with its tremendous run.
Even more imaginative are titles for some of the more
abstract films from Hollywood. The fantasy action
thriller Constantine, starring Keeanu Reeves was renamed
‘Aavigalin Asuran’, something that gives
away the feeling of a horror thriller. Surely, the
title would have pulled in many people to theaters.
Similarly, the title ‘Sangili Karuppan’
for See No Evil also played a part in making it a
bit popular. More recently, Hancock was renamed ‘Vichithiran’.
Van Helsing was made ‘Kallarai Manithan’
while ‘Ghost Rider’ became ‘Kaala
Bhairavan’. One of the most popular dubbed English
movies is perhaps Kung Fu Hustle which was renamed
‘Mirattal Adi’ while its sequel Shaolin
Soccer was named Mirattal Adi 2. Sometimes, the renaming
of movies can be totally irrelevant and misleading,
like when Posseidon became Titanic 2 without having
any connection to Titanic. And, there are some titles
which prey on the dark sides of our mind, like when
2012 was renamed ‘Rudram’ and used in
trailers with almost a deathly voice.
And, now we have the Clash of the Titans releasing
on April 2 which will be called ‘Marmadesam’
after a popular TV show which was aired a few years
back. It is not just the title, there is a tagline
that says that the movie is ‘Arundhathikku appan
and Avataarikku pattan’, literally translating
into Arundhathee’s dad and Avataar’s granddad.
What a wonderfully imaginative way to pull in audiences.
But, it is not only titles that show imagination.
If you look at the dialogues within these movies too,
you will find that the men behind them are nothing
short of geniuses. The translations that they give
might not be literal or even mean the same. But, they
do know how to make even the most sophisticated English
movies appeal to the desi audiences. The places in
New York City are changed to localities in Chennai,
like Wall Street becoming Mount Road. Famous buildings
like the Empire state become Chennai’s LIC and
landmarks such as London Bridge sometimes become Saidapet
Bridge. Might not make a lot of sense, but they are
definitely enjoyable.
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| Tags :
Avatar,
Jackie
Chan, Paruthiveeran,
Titanic |
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