Sound engineers, interpreters, voice actors, dubbing artists, voice directors, and anybody else interested in a career in voice acting are welcome to attend the India Voice Fest. This year, expect well-known individuals sharing their knowledge, including actor Ashwin Mushran (the Hindi voice of the professor in Money Heist) and viral parody creator and musician Yashraj Mukhate. A Hindi language workshop will be conducted by Asif Ali Baig, whose voice has been used for several well-known Disney characters. The voice chords will be discussed by ENT specialist Dr. Deepa Surve. The Shankar Mahadevan academy’s head and vocal coach, Dr. Rama Vaidyanathan, will impart her knowledge online. A ticketed networking dinner and party that will take place on December 11 following the grand finale is a new addition for 2022.
With 250 spectators present and the late Ameen Sayani, the grand old man of radio, in attendance, India Voice Fest began in 2018. It has expanded over the past five years to become India’s largest voice industry event, bringing together all of the key players in voicing under one roof. The seven-day festival, which begins on December 5, features masterclasses, in-depth knowledge, meetings with media figures, and a massive voice talent hunt (register on indiavoicefest.com to attend). The grand finale is held at Rang Sharda in Bandra, Mumbai, when the first awards specifically for voice professionals are presented. At India Voice Fest 2022 will feature internet sensation Yashraj Mukhate, actor Ashwin Mushran, and Harish Bhimani (Samay from Mahabharat). Abhishek Bachchan, Sudesh Bhosle, Varun Grover, Raza Murad, and Chetan Sashital have all attended previous events.
This year, the Indian voice industry is bigger and more profitable than ever before. Dubbing artists are in high demand due to factors like the rise of OTT, cloud dubbing, machine learning, the pan-Indian movie tsunami, and the influx of Hollywood movies. Only a small portion of India’s enormous voice industry is comprised of dubbing.
Voice personality Darrpan Mehta founded the festival with his team at Sugar Mediaz to honour professionals in the field who didn’t have a unified forum up until then. “The expansive industry also includes audiobooks, e-learning, podcasting, language localization, impersonation, mimicry, corporate audio-visual and explainer videos, and digital commercials that air on Youtube and social media,” he adds. Despite being so large, the industry is dispersed and unorganised. The gig economy is where the majority of voice actors work because they are independent contractors.
He has seen the exponential growth in options for people earning a living off their voice abilities throughout the course of his 25-year career. His primary complaint, though, was that Indian writers and actors do not have a common venue.
“If you are a voice aficionado or at the beginning phase of your voice acting profession and are asking yourself questions like, ‘What’ and ‘How,’ where do you turn?” adds Neha Gargava, who voices Catwoman.
In fact, despite their contributions to cinema, voice actors are neatly left out of film award categories and are rarely acknowledged in commercials.
Because she wasn’t in front of the camera, industry veteran Swati Subramaniam, who has voiced the characters of Meryl Streep and Seema Bhargava, was frequently asked: “If you are an actor, why aren’t you acting?” “However, I am performing voice acting. Voice actors are being treated with more respect as a result of the OTT wave. We have greater freedom to experiment and be flexible with our offering because to language localization. The all-Indian movie Pushpa is the best illustration of this. No longer is anything translated literally as it once was.
Ajit Bhure, a Marathi voice actor, believes that scripts still need improvement, despite the fact that voice performers are paid more for regional language work. The demand for more young talent has expanded possibilities and competition, he claims. He counsels the young competitors to control their attitude. “Unprofessional behaviour won’t be accepted! Everyone must put out their utmost effort, he argues.
Subramaniam’s advise is to continue honing your trade as frequently and as much as a vocalist would practise riyaaz. The distinction is all in the details. She has seen young people who began crowd dubbing grow into professional voiceover artists as a result of their hard effort. “Training for a career requires more than a single crash course. Your delivery, modulation, and texture need ongoing work. According to her, you are developing the persona of the character the audience is interested in.
There is a critical need to support emerging creative talent given the wide range of content genres being generated today in the form of documentaries and adaptations. After all, not even the most gifted voice actor or actress can deliver the depth, variety, and pitch required for all types of characters.
