The actor talks about the delayed release of Emergency, his experience dubbing for Allu Arjun’s Pushpa films and more
Kangana Ranaut’s political drama Emergency has been through multiple delays ever since it was announced a few years ago. The biggest blow came when its release was halted just a week before it was supposed to come out on September 5 last year, following objections from certain members of the Sikh community. After this, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reviewed it again and suggested a few cuts. Shreyas Talpade, who plays the role of a young Atal Bihari Vajpayee in it, said that it was a tough time for the entire team.
Now, the film is set to be released in theatres on January 17 and Shreyas feels happy that everything is clear. “I think what has happened is behind us and we are looking forward to the future,” he says. Apart from Emergency, the actor has been spreading his creative wings as a dubbing artist in recent times. When he voiced Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise (2021), it quickly broke into the psyche of the Hindi audiences. For them, it carried something more. Shreyas says that he was inspired by Amitabh Bachchan during the dubbing process.
“Growing up on Bachchan films, I used to recite his dialogues and mimic him so many times,” he says, mentioning some of his iconic lines, including, ‘Rishtey mein toh hum tumhare baap lagte hai, naam hai Shahenshah’ from the vigilante-actioner Shahenshah (1988) and ‘Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum’, from his seminal cop-drama Deewar (1975). Even Pushpa’s affirmative proclamation, ‘Main Jhukega Nahi’, resonated in a similar appeal with people, inspiring a host of memes and enactments. “We had no clue what was going to happen with the dialogue. Now, it’s become like a cult line,” says Shreyas.
The actor also feels that coming back to dub for Pushpa 2: The Rule, brought along some pressure after the success of the first film. “There were no expectations during the first time. We just wanted the film to do well,” he says. “But this time, there is already an aura around the character through social media videos and that brought in some pressure to deliver.” He sees the overwhelming worldwide success of the film as an indicator that language doesn’t really matter in films. “Now, the word is ‘Pan India’. If a film is something with which people connect, they will just go all-out to watch it,” he says.
Shreyas began his journey as a dubbing artist with the animated musical The Lion King (2019), voicing the chirpy character of Timon. His free-flowing additions to the character in the Hindi version of the film make for some genuinely funny moments. “I had a ball of a time dubbing for that film. Timon as a character is so bubbly, fresh and all over the place that it made the process so much fun,” he says. Shreyas feels that he just tries to enjoy the moment when he is dubbing as there are fewer responsibilities compared to acting. “While acting, there are a lot of thoughts running in your head: how are people going to react to my performance? Am I serving the character well? Is my director happy? But while dubbing, you just need to justify the efforts that other actors have already put on-screen and try to make it better.”
The actor recently completed shooting for Housefull 5, which stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Dino Morea, Jacqueliene Fernandez, Chitrangada Singh, Nargis Fakhri, Sanjay Dutt, Chunky Pandey, Fardeen Khan, Sonam Bajwa, Nana Patekar, Johnny Lever, Soundarya Sharma and Nikitin Dheer. Shreyas is returning to the comedy franchise after the second film, which was released in 2012. He says that having such seasoned actors allows for a lot of improvisations on set. “A lot of suggestions are given about what we feel we can do with our character and the film. But eventually, we always follow the conviction of our director, Tarun Mansukhani,” he adds. The film is set to be released on June 6 this year.
News Credits: Cinema Express
