'Katrina Kaif's diction sounded a bit odd in Welcome, had to get her voice dubbed,' reveals Anees Bazmee, refuting the actress's claim that no one had ever dubbed for her

Katrina Kaif has been working in the film industry for over 20 years now. After a difficult beginning in Hindi cinema, she gained recognition from roles in movies such as ‘Namastey London’, ‘New York’, and a few more. Although Katrina has always maintained that no one has ever dubbed for her, Anees Bazmee recently revealed that this was not the truth. Katrina was also a part of Anees Bazmee's ‘Welcome’, in which her voice was provided by someone else.


During a conversation with The Lallantop, Anees discussed Katrina's casting in the movie and revealed that Katrina's diction wasn't very clear at the time, thus they had to hire a dubbing artist. Additionally, he mentioned that Katrina dubbed for herself in his film ‘Singh is Kinng’, which also starred Katrina. “We got her voice dubbed in Welcome and in Singh is Kinng, she dubbed for herself. She was learning then. She would learn and work hard so we also thought that we should help her but her diction wasn’t very clear then so it sounded a bit odd. We thought of giving her a backstory that she has lived abroad all her life but it felt like a bit of manipulation so we decided to dub her voice,” he shared.


During an earlier conversation with mid-day, Katrina responded to the question of whether anyone else had ever dubbed for her, Katrina replied with a straight ‘no’. She shared that it is simply a matter of hard work. She recalled that it was Jackie Shroff who first advised her to learn Devnagri, which proved to be crucial for her. During the production of her initial films, directors would often write the lines on set and provide them to the actors, with many choosing to write in Devnagri. She did not want to find herself in a situation where she felt unprepared or uncertain. Consequently, she prioritized learning to read in Devnagri, establishing a foundational skill that ultimately benefited her significantly.


‘Sarkar’ and ‘Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya’, two of Katrina's earlier movies, both had a dubbing artiste who dubbed her lines. Katrina had previously stated in a 2007 interview with IANS that she did not like it when others dubbed for her. She said, “It really does add to the performance, honestly. Now I’ll be insisting on my own dubbing. When I look back at the movies where someone else dubbed for me I go, ‘No no no! That’s not me!’ But in Namastey London and now Apne, I felt I was watching and hearing myself.”


On the work front, Katrina Kaif was last seen in ‘Merry Christmas’. Directed by Sriram Raghavan, the film also starred Vijay Sethupathi in a pivotal role.


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