Karthik Gowda on Captain Miller in Kannada: Aim to have 80% of the Tamil version screen count for Kannada too

Karthik Gowda of KRG Studios is distributing Dhanush’s Captain Miller in Karnataka, which he is looking at presenting in Tamil and Kannada. The production house, Sathya Jyothi Films, did not have plans to dub the film in other languages, initially, but considering that Century Star Shivarajkumar has a pivotal role in it, Karthik has convinced them about the need for a Kannada version. “Shivanna will dub for his portions, as will Priyanka, who is originally from Bengaluru,” says Karthik, speaking to OTTplay.

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His announcement about releasing the Tamil original film in Karnataka, has, of course, been meet with multiple responses, urging him to do justice to a Kannada-dubbed version in terms of visibility and reach. “Dubbing in Kannada is an industry that is still in its infancy. We are still making baby steps and cannot grow overnight. There is a lot more that needs to be done, which needs time and a consistent effort too. Right now, some films get dubbed and others don’t. This is because there are some producers who do not see the merit of dubbing into Kannada. Dubbing a film in Kannada and giving it enough screens will be a gradual process; we cannot suddenly convert all shows to Kannada only. It’s a distant possibility, which will take time to get to that point. People need to be patient,” he reckons, adding, “The ideal scenario would be to have equal number of screens/shows for the Tamil and Kannada versions, but we are looking at having at least 80% of the screen count that Tamil has for the Kannada version.”

But sometimes, even when a dubbed version is available, the film itself does not reach audiences in Kannada. “It’s an open business where everyone can do anything they want. Even if the producer has dubbed versions ready, the distributor also needs to have the urge to release it in, say, Kannada and see the response. For instance, Jayanna Films and KRG Studios have been working hand-in-hand for the last year-and-a-half in an unspoken/unwritten agreement – whatever they do we follow and vice versa. Jailer, which was handled by Jayanna Films, began with very few screens for the Kannada version, which gradually increased. Our next is Ravi Teja’s Tiger Nageshwara Rao, but that won’t have too many Kannada takers, and we have Shivarajkumar’s Ghost on the same day, which is also a film that we are releasing. When there is an original Kannada film, audiences will prioritise that over a dubbed movie. But having said that, depending on the demand, we will increase Kannada shows for the other language films that we release,” explains Karthik.

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On a parting note, Karthik adds that releasing a Kannada dubbed version of a film is purely market driven, and that if there is demand, he will supply. “But most of the people who make these demands on social media, are those who remain online; not even half of them come to cinemas. The hope is that this set of ‘audience’ also takes out time and watches films in the Kannada dubbed version as and when it releases,” he signs off.