Members of Karnataka Television Association (KTA) on Monday ransacked Zee Kannada television office on MG Road in protest against the telecast of a one-hour special programme on Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai.
The protesters smashed TV sets, computers, glass doors and windowpanes claiming that the programme was dubbed one from Hindi.
They were up in arms against a programme titled “Veera Nari Jhansi Rani’ aired on Zee Kannada channel between 12 noon and 1 pm on Monday.
The programme had used footages of a Hindi serial called “Jhansi Ki Rani.’
The protesers led by KTA office-bearers Ravi Kiran, B Suresha and Sanjeev Tagaduru charged that the channel had aired the programme despite a request to the Channel Head Gautam Machaiah and Fiction Head Parameshwara Gundkal not to go ahead with it.
They said dubbing of a programme made in other languages robs job opportunities of local artistes. “Dubbing should not be allowed at any cost,” said Ravikiran.
However, the channel claimed that it was only a special programme aired as part of Independence Day programmes. It also made it clear that it was not a dubbed programme. The channel never telecasts dubbed programmes, it said.
“We aired a one-houred programme based on Jhansi Ki Rani. We used the Hindi footages wherever required and had hired a well-known Kannada presenter to give commentary on it. We have not dubbed the Hindi serial and all the characters in the programme spoke in Hindi and we used Kannada subtitles to convey the message to Kannada audience.
Because it was Independence Day, we aired the programme on the great historical figure of the first Indian freedom struggle,” said an executive of Zee-K.
Dubbing explained
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be speaking a different language.
Dubbing, though legally not banned, is not practised in Kannada films and television on mutual understanding.