Kabir Khan’s 83 didn’t do well with audiences and critics alike, but what was it about? Critics loved the movie but viewers left feeling unsatisfied. The 3-hour-long film only raked in Rs.105 crore ($14 million) at the end of week 5 – a mere 6% from its total worldwide earnings of $143 million during its theatrical run according to Box Office Mojo. Dubbed in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam for South Indian audiences – these versions only made up for 5% of its earnings outside India whereas Hindi made up for 44%. This discrepancy is something worth looking into since dubbed movies are supposed to make up more than just 5%.
When faced with what could become an increased risk, Taran adamantly states that filmmakers tend to make the decision whether or not they want a film subtitled in another language. The outcome is only dependent on the choices of the people making it,he suggests. I feel compelled to explain why filmmakers are opting for foreign subtitles instead of using Hindi?
For starters, audiences who prefer watching a movie in their native language usually prefer subtitling too, he reasons before giving some specific examples. In instances such as Allu Arjun’s Pushpa-The Rise; where its Hindi subtitled versions outperformed its ones dubbed in Tamil . And although movies that are later translated have been known to gain huge success Tarin argues there can be disadvantages because many viewers may think the Hollywoodization could devalue what was created originally.
Further discussing why audiences connect with Hindi films dubbed in regional languages, Taran continues: It has to do with how popular the actors are here. To put it simply, a Hindi film actor may or may not be well known but if he’s from this region then he’ll definitely get more attention.
As per box office collections, 83 collected approximately Rs. 5.37 crore from the regional dubbed versions at the close of Week 5. This is compared to Rs. 100 crore coming in by the end of the fifth week from only one language version of this film-the Hindi dubbing- which makes up only 5.09% of revenue generated by all nine regions combined.
83 box office by language (at the close of Week 5)
Hindi – 100 cr.
Telugu – 1.31 cr.
Tamil – 2.75 cr.
Kannada – 0.71 cr.
Malayalam – 0.60 cr.
