Indian Films English Subtitles
Demetrius Dade
Subtitles have become a powerful tool in the Indian film industry, enabling filmmakers to reach a wider audience and boost the success of their films. Accurate movie subtitles play a crucial role in ensuring that the essence and impact of Indian films are effectively conveyed to viewers, both domestically and globally.
In this blog, we will explore the impact of accurate movies subtitles on reaching a wider audience and how Ennovatives supports producers, directors, and filmmakers through professional subtitling services.
India is a linguistically diverse country, with numerous regional languages spoken across different states. Accurate movie subtitles in a common language, such as English, allow Indian films to transcend language barriers and connect with audiences throughout the country.
Movie subtitles play a pivotal role in introducing Indian films to international audiences. By providing translations in multiple languages, films can transcend linguistic limitations and reach viewers across the globe.
Subtitles facilitate international distribution, film festival participation, and streaming platform accessibility, leading to increased exposure and potential for international recognition and awards.
Accurate translations in subtitles ensure that the essence and nuances of dialogue and emotions are preserved. Translators at Ennovatives possess expertise in language and cultural understanding, ensuring that the intended meaning and impact of the original dialogue are effectively conveyed.
Accurate subtitles take into account these cultural aspects, providing context and explanation where necessary. Ennovatives ensures that the cultural integrity of Indian films is maintained, allowing viewers from different backgrounds to appreciate and understand the cultural richness depicted on screen.
Ennovatives offers professional subtitling services tailored to the unique requirements of producers, directors, and filmmakers. Our team of skilled translators and linguists ensures accurate language translations, precise synchronization, and cultural sensitivity.
Ennovatives is committed to delivering reliable services within agreed-upon timelines without compromising on quality. Our streamlined processes, efficient project management, and rigorous quality assurance measures ensure that the final product meets the highest standards of accuracy, synchronization, and viewer experience.
Accurate subtitles have the power to enhance the Indian film industry by reaching a wider audience, both domestically and globally. Ennovatives, as a top translation company in India, supports producers, directors, and filmmakers in boosting the success of their films through our professional subtitling services.
By ensuring accurate translations, preserving cultural integrity, and providing comprehensive language support, we contribute to the effective communication of cinematic brilliance and storytelling to audiences around the world.
Sure, you know Bollywood films are from India, and you probably know they involve a lot of singing and dancing. But here are some things you might not know, courtesy of Sonoma State University theater and film professor Ajay Gehlawat, whose new book, 21st Century Bollywood, correlates with his recent Bollywood and Globalization class.
1. All Bollywood films are from India, but not all Indian films are Bollywood films. There are other regional film industries, in Madras, Calcutta and other regions, and many eschew the songs and big-budget production that are staples of Bollywood films.
2. Though they're fewer in numbers, Bollywood films are by far the most popular in India. They are also the most popular Indian films abroad, second only to Hollywood films in box-office take worldwide. India has the most prolific film industry in terms of sheer output and numbers of viewers. In terms of revenue, however, Hollywood still dominates because of bigger budgets.
3. Bollywood has realized itself as "Bollywood." It realizes that the world is recognizing it as this identifiable form, now it's playing with its own conventions. That includes reenactments of well known older songs with contemporary actors digitally inserted into the old footage. (Imagine Anne Hathaway singing and dancing with Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain.")
4. Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar held the Guinness World Record for "Most Recorded Artist in History." She held the record until the category was discontinued in 1991, and has recorded more than 5,000 songs in 36 regional languages. Her career began in 1942 and she still performs, writes and produces music to this day.
7. Bollywood movies are more about the music than the film. In fact, the "music videos" in Bollywood films are shot by a different director, and the music and voices are recorded first in a studio before the cameras start rolling. Singing is done by a completely different cast, and the dance numbers in the films are always lip-synched.
8. Some Bollywood songs are used in rural villages to increase literacy rates. Nearly one-third of Indians are illiterate today, and most Indians don't speak English. There are efforts to change this by using Hindi subtitles in movies where everybody knows--and sings--the songs in the films.
9. Snoop Dogg and Pitbull have recorded Bollywood songs. In an attempt to appeal to more Western audiences, Bollywood is incorporating rap into some songs. Snoop Dogg and Pitbull were featured in Bollywood songs in 2009 and 2013, respectively.
Sonja Majumder, who subtitles Hindi films in German, agrees with a colleague who compared subtitling to the translation of poetry, because it involves working within confines. If you translate a book," she says over Skype from Hamburg, the German book can be longer than the English one. But a film scene is only that long."
Given that they come between you and the film, as Durandy puts it, good subtitlers try to remain as unobtrusive as possible. The best subtitles are invisible," Majumder says. If at the end of the film, people think that they have not watched a film with subtitles, then you have done a good job."
Language, of course, can be a challenge. Majumder says she always has to work extra hard when translating lyricists who use difficult words, like Gulzar, or directors who set their films in a specific linguistic milieu, like Vishal Bhardwaj. Fujii Mika, who has been subtitling Hindi films in Japanese since 1999, cites Gangs Of Wasseypur as a demanding project because of its localized accents and slang. Sometimes just the volume of words can pose problems. Durandy says he finds masala films, with their rat-a-tat dialogue, tougher to negotiate than ones where the visual carries an equal or greater load. The more that is left unsaid, the easier it is to translate. I think October would be a very easy film to subtitle. Or Trapped."
Subtitling is steadily gaining in importance as global audiences discover Indian films and series through streaming services, and lucrative new markets such as China emerge. It is already vital for directors whose films play at Cannes, Berlin, Venice and other major festivals. Durandy suspects a couple of recent Indian films might have made more of a splash on the art-house circuit had their subtitles been better. Neeraj Ghaywan, director of Masaan, which premiered at Cannes in 2015, was asked in a Reddit AMA what he thought the most underrated part of the film-making process was. He replied: Subtitling. People ignore it thinking it is just translation. It is actually as important as screenwriting..."
The most challenging Hindi film project for me was Gangs Of Wasseypur I and II for the Fukuoka International Film Festival. Although we do not have as much slang as there is in Hindi or in English, we have a lot of Japanese gang movies, so I could manage somehow.
On a Sunday afternoon in 2012, I tried to watch the 'critically acclaimed' Punjabi film Anhe Ghore Da Daan (Alms to a Blind Horse) at a screening in Delhi, at Siri Fort Auditorium. Either the print was bad or the film was shot in dim light or the plot was too sleepy. maybe I was too impatient and tired and couldn't follow the Punjabi. Whatever the reason, my former colleague and I walked out. So much for culture - or loyalty to one's Punjabi roots.Since then, most Indian movies I have watched have been in Hindi, partly because of my one high-horse assumption that subtitles of regional cinema are quite awful. 'Bye-bye, syntax; bye-bye, nuance' sort of a thing.Circa 2018. Over the weekend, a colleague invited some people over for a movie marathon at her place. The plan was to start at noon and work our way through a Tamil, Malayalam and Bengali film: OK, Kanmani (Tamil), Iti Mrinalini (Bengali), Bangalore Days (Malayalam).OK, Kanmani was alright. A little too conflict-free for my taste, but I was happy to have been introduced to the actor Dulquer Salmaan (good actor, nice voice!). It was a reminder also to immerse myself in Mani Ratnam's earlier work, in the languages he filmed those movies in. But again, my main problem with the movie: the subtitles. The quality seemed fine, but that eight second lag.I couldn't stay for the final movie, Bangalore Days, as I had to make it in time for the Hindi film Karwaan. Maybe if I hadn't already booked tickets, I might have stayed for Bangalore Days. I'm told it was the best.As I walked out of my colleague's darkened living room-turned-cinema of the day, I realised how, by not watching enough regional Indian cinema, I had turned into one stereotype of a north Indian yuppie. Seriously. I can't remember the last Indian subtitled movie I saw after that Blind Horse fiasco. Alright, one exception: I watched the Marathi film Ventilator on a flight back to Delhi in March this year (Phew! Five points to me). But largely, I am embarrassed at my cultural oversights. They seem to me a manifestation of a disloyalty of sorts - as if I am incurious about my Indian roots. I wouldn't want this to be true, especially not for the pretentiousness it would indicate.I watch enough foreign cinema - with subtitles. I can remember films from other countries that I have sneaked out of office early for (Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman; I was so surprised it was playing at Ibn Battuta!) I enjoy not restricting myself to the stuff churned out by Hollywood. And yet, in holding a mirror up, I couldn't escape the glaring reflection of my cultural choices, that seemed to call for some course correction.I don't want to be the person who restricts herself to Bollywood. And yet, never in my years in Dubai had I watched a Malayalam film (before this weekend)- and they play here in cinemas all the time! I thought of reasons (excuses, rather) for this blinkered behaviour. And there's no meat there, all just inadequate, silly excuses better left off the page.This year, on the big screen, even when it comes to Hindi films, I can remember having watched only Raazi and October. I like to not throw away money on what my gut tells me will be rubbish - even if it's in my mother tongue. But like an admonished school child, I intend to remedy my oversight by downloading or streaming Bangalore Days immediately. And by going to watch Koode this week. It's, as they say, playing at a cinema near me.-n...@khaleejtimes.com
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