Sunday, May 13, 2007

Quote/Misquote

Yesterday I saw the movie Provoked. Found the movie pretty good. But more than the movie and the story, something else caught my attention and kept me entertained throughout.

We had the English subtitles on, and that was the best thing we did. If you have seen the movie, you'd know that its based in UK and the movie's mostly in English, that too with UK accent, which many will admit is not one of the easily understood accent. And whoever wrote the subtitles seem to prove it. During the entire length of the movie, he ended up misquoting most of the dialogs. Like in one scene Aishwarya says "I don't like bullies" and the subtitles show "I don't like police". I guess "police" and "bullies" sound similar enough for this blunder to be excused. But check this out. In one scene, Aishwarya's cell mate says "So you were raped" and the subtitles show "Can I hug you?" I mean, how in the world can these two sentences be mistaken with each other??

Those are just two of the many blunders made. Apart from misquoting the dialogs, there were other mistakes too. Throughout the movie, the word "provocation" was spelt as "provokation" with a "k". And most of the time, the subtitle-writer seem to be at loss, so when he couldn't figure out what the Brit actors were saying, he simply didn't provide any subtitles. Blank! And sometimes, he seemed too lazy to type the whole thing, so he just typed the gist of the dialog spoken, instead of typing them word to word. The only time he managed to quote the dialogs without any mistake or without missing any word were when Aishwarya or her mother-in-law spoke in broken English.

I don't understand. When a director/producer make a movie, do they consider their job done once the movie's made? Whose responsibility is it to look after the post production tasks? Such silly mistakes bring a negative impact on the movie. For someone who is depending on the subtitles to understand the movie, they'd be at loss and confused as to whats happening.

Well, what the heck! Who cares? I had a fun time and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. That's what a movie's supposed to do, isn't it? Entertain?! :)

11 comments:

fursat said...

Quote of the day: Mr FIRST !!

fursat said...

This is the most different review of the movie that I have read. First thing that stuck me is that you "liked" the movie considering this is the most badly reviewed movie of the year.

I find it funny that they subtitled an English movie although I can understand the reason but its funny to know that most people cannot understand the accent of the people who invented the language...lol

fursat said...

I have seen some badly subtitled movies like Anaconda in which the people referred to Anaconda as "badi chipkali"...he he.

The ones you mentioned are extremely funny. Post-production is getting better in Indian movies though still not upto the mark. Hollywood movies make double the money on DVDs because of excellent post-production.

But then as you said these little nuances are what makes some of the most boring Indian movies entertaining ;)

Nice post :D

Anonymous said...

ha ha...majja aa gaya yeh post padh kar :)

Colors said...

Mr First, that's not a quote, that's a title :P

Yeah, I thought the movie was quite alright. Its based on a true story, so there's nothing much one can do in it.

All movies on DVD have subtitles, even English ones. As for the Anaconda movie, aren't you talking about the dubbing in Hindi? :)

I've always found English subtitles on Hindi movies to be very funny, specially the way the songs are translated. But for the first time I found the subtitles on an English movie to be so funny!

Colors said...

Hi Mehak, am glad you enjoyed! :D

Bulletproof Raman said...

That Swayambhu photo was taken from our rooftop. Pretty cool, eh? BTW, a softer version of weeping sikkim is on.

Anonymous said...

Well...I too agree that I liked Provoked...and agree that though these things like the dubbing and subtitles are ignored by the film makers...there is more to film making and entertainment...but am sure post production is as important for not only the business aspect...but for the creative part too...someone should at least make an honest effort to look after these issues...so that the audience or the people appreciating the art form...cinema... are not left dissapointed
~~~~Aindrila
www.aindrilach.wordpress.com

Colors said...

You said it Aindrilla :)
PS welcome to my blog

Americanising Desi said...

oh yes i enjoyed it thoroughly myself :)

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