Tamil, Hindi versions of Hollywood blockbusters now playing in GTA
In "Hollywood North," the city that speaks over 140 languages, expect to find some of the today's biggest blockbuster films tailored to Toronto's diverse audience, according to a film reviewer.
Rad Simonpillai, a film critic at NOW Magazine, said he was recently at the Cineplex Scarborough theatre when he noticed an advertisement for the new live-action remake of the The Jungle Book. But this wasn't just any ad — it was for a version dubbed in Tamil.
Simonpillai is a Torontonian but said this was the first time he'd ever seen something like this.
"I was shocked. I thought it was a glitch," he said.
So he decided to reach out to Disney to find out more.
This is not the first time a dubbed version of a film has released in Canada. When Kung Fu Panda 3 was released in theatres last January by 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks, a Mandarin-dubbed version played in Markham.
However, dubbing The Jungle Book is a first for Disney.
"It's very new," the film critic said.
And not only will The Jungle Book be available to GTA audiences in Tamil, you can watch it in Hindi, too. Simonpillai said he believes it's a step in the right direction.
"It was Disney that figured it out. I have to give a high-five to the Disney marketing team," he said.
"I always look at studios as always trying to homogenize their audience. In this case, the Disney team said we have these dubs available in Hindi and Tamil and let's reach out and see if we can play these in theatres that cater to those audiences.
"It's a great move for them for recognizing the diversity of their audience and the diversity of this city."
So why The Jungle Book? It's an obvious choice, according to Simonpillai.
"It makes a lot of sense because this story is set in India. They have an Indian boy starring in the role of Mowgli. This is the kind of movie that you want to be culturally sensitive with. The original Jungle Book is a product of colonialism. The Disney movie, the one from 1967, was kind of racist in itself," he said.
"So coming into a movie like this, you want to neutralize the controversial issues and also gear it to the people it should matter to."
Simonpillai said there's money to be made and it's easier now to produce dubbed versions.
Theatres such as the Cineplex Scarborough have long shown films in Tamil and Filipino but Simonpillai isn't worried that dubbed versions of Hollywood films will cut into the market for foreign films.
Have English-language studios done anything like this before?
"When Disney released the Avengers in India, they had a Bollywood song composed to be the theme song for the version that played in India, and Iron Man 3 had additional scenes with Chinese actors," he said.
"So you have more product catered to different ethnicities. Why not bring it here in a city with so many ethnicities grouped in one space?
"Hollywood wants to be a little progressive. And the technology is there."
Foreign-language cinema have long cribbed on Western films to boost their popularity.
This clip from a 1988 Bollywood nod to Superman has received over 10 million views since it was posted on YouTube.
