Entertainment Desk
24 October 2025, 08:28 AM IST
Renowned dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi reveals disappointment as her voice for Shobana in the Malayalam blockbuster `Thudarum` was replaced without her knowledge. Learn more about the incident.
Bhagyalakshmi, Thudarum
Dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi has opened up about a disappointing experience involving the Malayalam blockbuster Thudarum, revealing that her voice for Shobana’s character was replaced without her knowledge.
In an interview with Saina South, the renowned dubbing artist said that though she completed the dubbing for Shobana’s role, she later found out that the actress had re-recorded the part herself.
“I know Shobana can’t do it. They used my voice in the climax,” Bhagyalakshmi said, adding that parts of her performance still remain in the film despite being replaced. “She can’t scream or yell like that because she doesn’t have experience doing it. The shouting in the climax is mine.”
Dubbing completed, then replaced
Bhagyalakshmi revealed that the film’s team, including director Tharun Moorthy, had initially asked her to dub the entire character.
“Everyone knows I dub in most of Shobana’s films, and people say my voice suits her best,” she said. “When I was called, I even asked why Shobana herself couldn’t do it, since she speaks Tamil well. But the director and writer said I should dub, so I did.”
The artist said she worked hard to capture the emotional intensity of the film’s final scenes. “I screamed and shouted in the climax part; it took a lot of effort,” she recalled. “They even paid me in full without bargaining”
About a month later, Bhagyalakshmi said she called producer M. Ranjith to ask why the film hadn’t been released yet. That’s when she learned about the replacement.
“Ranjith told me there were some small corrections and then said, ‘I was wondering how to tell you this—your voice has been replaced. Shobana dubbed it,’” she said. “He told me Shobana had insisted that she would not attend promotions unless she dubbed her own role.”
While Bhagyalakshmi acknowledged Shobana’s right to dub for her own character, she said she was deeply hurt that no one from the team informed her before she called them up.
“The actor has every right to use their own voice, and the director has the final say. I don’t object to that,” she said. “But after all the years I’ve dubbed for Shobana, she or the team could have just called to say she wanted to do it herself. That courtesy was missing.”
Tharun Moorthy lied during promotions
She also criticised the director’s public comments during promotions, saying he gave a misleading version of events.
“In the promotions, Tharun Moorthy said they had decided from the beginning that Shobana would dub her own role,” she said. “That’s not true. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I stayed silent until now.”
Thudarum, directed by Tharun Moorthy and starring Mohanlal and Shobana, marked the much-awaited on-screen reunion of the duo and went on to become a superhit.
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