Art & Entertainment

Navin Prabhakar On His Dubbing Journey: For Being A Great Voice Actor, You Must Be A Great Listener

“I do my stand-up comedy in various desi languages. Hindi, Marathi Gujarati, Siddhi, Punjabi, Bihari, Punjabi,” says Navin Prabhakar, who is more popularly known by his nickname ‘Pehchaan Kaun’. He talks about his journey as a dubbing artist.

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Navin Prabhakar
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Besides being an amazing comedian and an incredible actor, Navin Prabhakar is also a dubbing artist. Navin Prabhakar says that he has found a way to connect with the audience through his voice, be it stand-up comedy or dubbing.

“I do my stand-up comedy in various desi languages. Hindi, Marathi Gujarati, Siddhi, Punjabi, Bihari, Punjabi. Marathi is my mother tongue but I am also fluent in Gujarati and Hindi. In other languages, I can connect with the audience with the right dialects,” he says.

He adds, “When you have command in languages you can ‘Ride on the word diarrhoea’ and I enjoy it in every stand-up show. That's how I connected with the audience and I was also called for dubbing for various language ads and TV commercials. One of my dubbing directors Champa Tiwari ma'am called me for Saif Ali Khan's voice. Once I dubbed for it, I got many compliments. I am so happy that many people started calling me for dubbing. However, at that time, I made it clear that I will only dub for the main hero. Champa Tiwari always encouraged me to try new voices, which I never used to perform on stage. She's a great dubbing director in Bollywood, who inspired me to invent new voices. The real magic happened when she called me to dub for Sunil Anna's voice and Jitendra Jitu Sahib’s voice. The list is never-ending... but must say, I did more than 25 film projects as a dubbing artist and a voice actor and the credit goes to Champa ji.”

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Ask him what he thinks are the other qualities of a good dubbing artist, and he says, “For being a great dubbing and voice actor, you must be a great listener. Your ear should be capable of listening to the quality and base of the star, the breath of the star, and mind it it's not a mimicry it's all about being that voice in perfect sync. Nowadays, dubbing is a completely different profession altogether. And trust me, great talented dubbing artists are great taxpayers in the industry. I have huge respect for the same many dubbing artists.”

He adds that dubbing artists are doing very well for themselves. “They have a great future with many platforms. Well, knowledge of dubbing can lead an actor to the next level. I know many actors who served in Mumbai with this dubbing skill in their initial days in Bollywood,” he says.

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