PremiumSiddharth: Chikku is a personal film and, hence, very universal
The Kannada version of Chittha, which the actor has dubbed for is currently in theatres
Last Updated: 09.58 PM, Oct 03, 2023
Back in the day of remakes, one would often hear filmmakers say that they’ve taken a popular plot and given it a native flavour. In the era of pan-India releases, while it is said that stories need to be universal to work for audiences across geographical sectors, there’s also been a rooted film like Kantara that struck a chord with everyone irrespective. Actor Siddharth is currently in the process of taking his film Chithha to different markets. In Kannada, he’s released it as Chikku, for which he dubbed himself and while promoting the same, he was asked about the possibilities of cultural elements getting lost in translation.
Chikku, he reckons, is a very personal story, and, hence, immensely universal. The actor, who has also produced the film, says that when he read the script and was in the process of bringing it to the screen, it made him feel something. His thought behind making Chikku was that if he could make all audiences feel the same thing, then that makes it a very important film. When audiences watch Chikku, Siddharth reckons that they will do so as human beings and not based on where they hail from or what their mother tongue is.
Having said that, Siddharth acknowledges that even a universal subject has to be handled well to be presented in different languages. The dialogues, he says, have to be well-written with the right local slang, if required, lyrics of songs have to be good and the backdrop has to be neutral, in the sense that even if a scene has been shot in Tamil Nadu, the place should be able to pass off as somewhere in Karnataka, or Kerala, for that matter.