Voice artists deserve more than is currently being paid to us: Rajesh Khattar

Rajesh Khattar, actor, voice-over artist and screenwriter is celebrating the success of Pushpa 2. Having done the Hindi voice-over for the film for the lead character, Rajesh says the success of Hindi-dubbed films in recent years spells good times for voice over artistes like him. Rajesh who was shooting in the city recently, also spoke about son Ishaan and why he isn’t doing TV shows anymore.
Would you say it’s a good time for voice over artistes with so many South Indian films also making it to North India?
Well movies have been dubbed in Hindi from Hollywood and the south Indian film industry since long but from the past few years there has been a certain spurt in cinema going audience towards dubbed movies largely because of the entertainment value these movies offered. They are unapologetically commercial and larger than life cinema, very high on entertainment. Having said that, I don’t see work increasing for voice actors because its only a chosen few which are dubbed. Out of 100 south Indian movies not even 5 are dubbed for theatrical release, 95 are for various OTT and satellite channels which is already happening for years.
Also with AI, dependence on human talent will keep reducing in the times to come. Plus quantum of work has already been existing from past few years, it’s the quality which needs to be spoken about. For instance a dub of Avengers Endgame and a normal Korean movie will differ vastly. Also what we need to speak about is the remuneration given to voice artist. Right now as we speak, there is Pushpa 2 which has done a phenomenal business of thousand crore plus, out of which more than 750 crore comes from the dubbed Hindi version.
It’s the first time in the history that a film’s dubbed version has done more business than the original and I can see this is going to happen a lot more in future. I have often heard from producers that not all dubbed movies- Hollywood or any other- do well. They say that hardly 10% have a success ratio, so we can’t pay to the artists. My argument to that is, as such artists are paid only basic amount for their job, but if a movie does well at box office, even then the voice artist’s contribution has to be acknowledged. Like song writers, music directors, singers, voice actors don’t have any royalty paid to them for their work, which I feel the entire voicing industry should collectively work towards to make it happen. We deserve better and more than is currently being paid to us.

Taking about Ishaan, your son, are you happy the way his career is shaping? What would be your advise to him to further his career as an actor?
I feel people seems to have a fixed notion about measuring success, also they are reacting to the present as they are unaware of what is to come. I think Ishaan is in a great space in his career. He is busy doing some wonderful work and has never disappointed his fans. I know it for sure that with his future work he is going to add many more who will be rooting for his work. I believe some of his very interesting work is going to be out soon. To me Ishaan doesn’t belong to the ‘out of sight out of mind’ category. He is one of the youngest actors in the industry and is here for a long haul. Everyone can see that he is not into any rat race but doing things at his own pace, which I feel he is entitled too. He will keep doing better and always surprise everyone with his work.
Coming to TV, why have you stopped doing TV shows? Is it now not interesting enough for you?
I counter question why have people stopped watching TV, nowadays ? Only reality shows seem to get eye balls. But I have not at all stopped doing TV. I am open to any good work. Whether it is TV, OTT or cinema, at this stage of my career I am only interested in doing good substantial characters. In fact, I am clearly looking for pivotal central characters and whichever platform they come from, I am waiting for them with open arms.