Nov 06, 2026 10:00pm IST
Sharad Kelkar On Dubbing For Yash in ‘Ramayana: ‘We Were All In Sync’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Sharad Kelkar has dubbed for Yash – who plays Ravan in "Ramayana 2" – for the film's Hindi version and his work is receiving immense appreciation. He tells Variety India exclusively that the decision was made "over a friendly call." "[Director] Nitesh Tiwari and the core team decided that I should dub for Yash in the Hindi version. Niraj Sanghai of Prime Focus is a good friend. In fact, when I met Nitesh Sir last year at Ravie Dubey's place, I told him I wanted to work with him. He was busy preparing for the ‘Ramayana’ shoot. This was a great opportunity and finally, we worked together.”
Kelkar sheds light on the brief he was given. "Nitesh Sir conceived the film basically from Ravan's rise as an evil force. While audiences have seen Lord Ram's childhood, nobody has seen Ravan's past: where he came from and what happened to him. Ravaan’s life is shown in a much extended manner than scenes from Ayodhya,” he reveals.
Yash is getting rave reviews for his performance as Ravan. Kelkar gushes, “Yash has given an outstanding performance. He is the best choice for the role and he understood the character perfectly. Dubbing for him was not at all easy. I would describe it as interesting because Yash speaks Hindi quite well. But as someone who speaks mostly in Kannada, he has an accent and his rhythm with Hindi words was a bit of an issue. The entire team felt his voice needed to be dubbed for the Hindi version. In Kannada, he has done a brilliant job. He has a fantastic voice.”
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Kelkar adds, “Yash is a sweet guy. We had long chats and he would come up with suggestions. He was always striving for the best outcome asking me if I could better some of the scenes. We were all in sync."
The actor narrates, “It was one of my most tiring dubbing experiences. I cannot imagine how much effort Yash put in to ace this role. I feel this is the toughest role of his career and he has done an outstanding job. There are a couple of scenes conceived by Nitesh Sir, which I absolutely love. One of them is the 10 heads scene, then the Vidyutjihva one and the opening one where he seeks all the boons from Brahma.”
Kelkar highlights how Yash as Ravan is shown as weak, meek and almost skeletal in the boon-giving scene. Then, as his power grows his voice too becomes powerful with a tone of arrogance. He adds, “Ravan is a very intelligent, well-read man and he has a command on things. While dubbing, I had to keep in mind that he cannot come across as confused or doubtful. The only scene where he is in doubt is the one where he is talking to his 10 heads wondering if he should go to war or wait? I loved that scene. Kudos to Nitesh Sir and Yash for executing it with such finesse. They made it very easy for me.”
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Kelkar reveals that he only dubs for three hours a day as the voice quality tends to fluctuate. He would dub every day in the morning. “The dubbing session for the 10 heads scene went beyond three hours. It was like dubbing for 10 different characters, the speed of the dialogues, voice modulation and so on,” Kelkar states.
Kelkar tries to keep his dubbing in sync with the visual imagery. “I performed action scenes in the studio, too. You need to make your whole body work to get that voice. That is tiring. But that is my method of dubbing. I got close to the mic while dubbing for the Vidyutjihva scene. If there is a chase scene, I will run to the studio and dub. You cannot fake that breathlessness.”
TV star Ravie Dubey is getting immense appreciation for his performance as Lakshman in "Ramayana." He expresses, “Right from the start of his career, he has been a sincere and hard-working boy. He is a fantastic actor. There is always a debate on actors coming from the TV industry but he is one of the really good ones out there. Ravi has finally got his chance to show the world what he can do as an actor. If you are a naturally good artiste, even your transition from TV to films will get appreciation.”
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