Britain-based film producer Gurinder Chadha's latest film, It's A Wonderful Afterlife, is now undergoing a not- so-wonderful linguistic change.
This English film was initially dubbed in Punjabi and titled Hai Mar Java. But now, the Punjabi version is being scrapped in favour of a Hindi one. The film stars Shabana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Goldy Notay.
Shabana plays the central character of a Punjabi mother in the UK, who is anxious to get her daughter married.
Though Shabana ( who is recovering from a fractured foot) isn't complaining, she isn't jubilant either. The actress had learnt Punjabi from scratch for the film.
While Gurinder denied that the change in language was a last- minute decision, Shabana, who started dubbing for the Hindi version last week, was candid enough. “ Yes, it was felt that the Punjabi version didn't have a pan- India appeal. Hindi works better in the country. So after having learnt Punjabi and dubbed in that language, I am now dubbing in Hindi. At least I can now pursue a career in Punjabi cinema if the roles in Hindi dry up,” she remarked.
Gurinder said: “ We haven't scrapped the Punjabi dub at all. It is still Punjabi with a Hindi flavour, a kind of Hunjabi or Pindi.”
The English version of the film is releasing on April 23 in the UK and the Hindi one is releasing in India on May 7.
