GECs
Dubbing a success story
Kishore Bhatt is a happy man!
In 2001, the 50-year old gave up a secure job in State Bank of India for a career in dubbing.
At that time, it looked quite a gamble: the switch from one of the country’s top financial institutions to something which has an uncertain entertainment industry piggybacking it. There were many who wanted to correct him.
Now, as I speak to Bhatt, his ten year old kid proudly lists out names of the characters Bhatt lends his voice to: Beakman, Batman, James of the Pokemon series, Samurai Jack, Uncle in the Jackie Chan animation series…the list goes on.
For Bhatt, the timing was right. This period saw international players including Discovery, The History Channel and National Geographical Channel entering the Indian market. Then, Walt Disney’s arrival in three Indian languages has ensured lot of work from the kids’ channel segment. We have many more international networks knocking the door as well in approximately Rs. 150 million TV language dubbing industry.
The evolution
As per industry estimates, the total dubbed content was of approximately 2,400 hours in the 2003 fiscal. In the current fiscal, Disney alone has 1800 episodes of dubbed content in Telugu and an equal number in Tamil. The channel has already dubbed 1650 episodes of content in Hindi. Taking all the other players into account, the growth pattern definitely shows an upward curve.
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Indranil Ghosh
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“The volume of dubbed content in all segments including broadcasting has gone up. English to Hindi dubbing has gone up over the last two years,” says UTV Post Production and Dubbing GM Indranil Ghosh.
The industry scenario
Dubbing vendors are riding on this wave. UTV, which has a
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UTV‘s dubbing business primarily caters to movies, television serials, documentaries and animation films. Walt Disney, Discovery, Star TV, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Channel (NGC) and The History Channel figure in its clientele. UTV is offering dubbing services to the Walt Disney channels in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for serials and feature films. According to the agreement with NGC Networks Asia, UTV’s services include translation and transcription of the original English scripts into Hindi and Tamil for both dialogues and lyrics and also for dubbing.
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dubbing business unit, recorded a volume of 733 hours in this period. In the quarter ended December 2004, the company has done 461 hours of dubbing.
Other leading dubbing vendors include VGP, En Sync, Mainframe and Sound & Vision. The boom has given birth to a large number of dubbing organisations, big and small. There are at least 25 small outfits in Mumbai itself. Industry experts find it difficult to give an accurate assessment of the size of the market because of the fragmentation.
“It is a very fragmented market. Apart from a handful of big players, we have many smaller players to take into account,” says Ghosh.
Industry analysts value the market size at an approximate Rs. 150 million with UTV in the lead. The company earned Rs. 34 million from dubbing in the 2003 fiscal and has already touched 24 million for the six months period ended 30 September 2004.
GECs
Samsung TV Plus launches Kings of Comedy channel
New free FAST channel brings iconic Hindi comedy shows to millions of Samsung Smart TV owners.
MUMBAI: Samsung TV Plus has just turned up the laughter volume and it’s completely free. The leading free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service in India has launched Kings of Comedy, a premium comedy channel featuring some of the country’s most beloved primetime shows. Available exclusively on Samsung TV Plus, the channel delivers back-to-back hits including Comedy Nights with Kapil, Khatra Khatra Khatra, and Comedy Nights Bachao, with no login or subscription required.
The launch marks a milestone for free streaming in India, offering audiences a dedicated comedy destination directly from their Samsung TV home screen. It arrives as Samsung TV Plus India celebrates its 5th anniversary, during which the service has grown its monthly active users by 42 per cent and more than doubled its total viewing hours. The platform now offers over 180 free channels across 14 languages.
Samsung TV Plus India general manager and head of business development Kunal Mehta said, “Comedy is the heartbeat of Hindi entertainment, and Kings of Comedy brings together the shows Indians already love, completely free on their Samsung TV. Our focus remains the same take the content people know and make it effortless to access.”
Globally, Samsung TV Plus has surpassed 100 million monthly active users across more than 4,500 channels, solidifying its position as one of the world’s leading free streaming services.
Kings of Comedy is now available on all compatible Samsung Smart TVs. For viewers seeking non-stop laughter without any cost, this new channel delivers a royal treat proving that sometimes the best entertainment really does come with no strings (or subscriptions) attached.
