Exclusive | 'Guns & Gulaabs' star Gulshan Devaiah talks the unusual Kannada dubbing process

The folks at Netflix recently sprung a small but pleasant surprise on all their Kannada-speaking consumers when they released their hit show 'Guns & Gulaabs' dubbed and subtitled in Kannada. 

It was a promise that was long overdue, considering that the series directors Raj & DK had confirmed the Kannada dubbed version would be available at the earliest at the time of premiere. One assumes that certain factors got in the way of keeping that word, but luckily for the viewers, 'Guns & Gulaabs' (Kannada) has a very special treat for them.

Gulshan Devaiah, the super-skilled and talented actor who plays Chaar Cut Atmaram on the show, has himself dubbed for his character. And to take things up a notch, he has lent a quirky South Canara or the Coastal Karnataka dialect to his character.

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"Wasn't exactly part of the plan"

In fact, as Gulshan himself reveals, the plan to lend the Coastal Kannada or the "Mangaluru Kannada" (as it is colloquially referred to) to the said character wasn't really the plan. Speaking to OTTplay, he shares that it was quite serendipitous for him to meet a dubbing supervisor who simply happened to be from Mangalore.

"Atmaram is different and an outsider and I thought the Mangaluru or coastal dialect would probably be nice. And also, the accent is cool because of how they use cuss words," he says, suggesting the idea behind the choice. 

"I had been thinking about giving this character a Malnad accent for the Kannada version for a few days but I totally lucked out with her (dubbing supervisor) being from that region. I requested her to help, so, she was making up the lines and I was just saying them out. We finished the whole thing in four hours, give or take. She had fun as well because together, we could be creative, especially with the lines, the accent, etc." adds Gulshan.

"If Rudraprayag is revived, would love to work on it"

Of course, it isn't exactly a secret that Gulshan Devaiah was to make his Kannada film debut with 'Rudraprayag', an adventure-drama helmed by Rishab Shetty himself. This is early 2020 we are talking about, meaning that within a few months, the coronavirus pandemic would strike the whole world and much like most projects at the time, 'Rudraprayag' too would be affected. 

One thing would lead to another and Rishab would soon find himself taking on 'Kantara', with the other project back-burnered for the time being. 

In his other recent conversation with OTTplay, Gulshan Devaiah spoke about the project and shared that should there be any chance of 'Rudraprayag' being revived in the future, he would love to be part of it. He would add that as much as he looks forward to starring in a Kannada film, his first love still remains Hindi cinema. Here's the link to the full-length conversation:

Exclusive! Gulshan Devaiah: I would love to do Rudraprayag with Rishab Shetty if it is revived