KOCHI: Malayali movie lovers have never seen her face onscreen, but her sound has only been too familiar to them. She has lent voice to over 5,000 characters in over 2,000 Malayalam movies.
Anandavally was the woman behind the voice and one of the senior most dubbing artists in Malayalam cinema. In 1993 alone, Ananadavally dubbed for at least 50 films, lending her voice to lead female characters. This continues to remain among the unbreakable records in Malayalam industry.
In that year, she had also dubbed for Madhavi in ‘Akashadooth’ and ‘Gandahri’ and for Geetha in ‘Vatsalyam’ and ‘Ekalavyan’. The dubbing artist had given voice to most of Geetha’s characters in almost all the 50 films she acted in Malayalam.
“It was one of her specialities. Her voice had suited Geetha very much. I still remember when we dubbed for the movie ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha’ (1989), the director asked me who I would dub for. I said I would dub for Madhavi while Anandavally would dub for Geetha. She was one of those rare talents in Malayalam cinema and her modulation and ability to change her voice were outstanding,” remembers dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi.
Anandavally was born in 1955 at Veliyam in Kollam district. While studying at Kaiyela School at Veliyam, she began acting in school plays and kadhaprasangam. As a teenager, she would sing for dramas. Later, she became a member of KPAC, Kalidasa Kalakendram and Kayamkulam Peoples Theaters. She also worked as an announcer in All India Radio. Her acting career began with Enippadikal (1971).She acted in nearly 50 films till Kaliveedu (1996).
She concentrated more on dubbing. Her debut as a dubbing artist was in ‘Devi Kanyakumari’ (1974) where she lent her voice for actor Rajasri. Anandavally was one of the busiest dubbing artists during the golden ‘80s of Malayalam cinema. She rendered voice to Poornima Jayaram in most of the movies starting with ‘Manjil Virinja Pookkal’ (1980).
Her dubbing for actor Swapna in movies like ‘Thrishna’ (1981) and ‘Ahimsa’ (1981), Madhavi for ‘Novemberinte Nashtam’ (1982) and Menaka (for various films including Engane Nee Marakkum (1983), Ambika (for movies including ‘Rajavinte Makan’ (1986) and for Geetha (for films including ‘Panchagni’ (1986) helped her in securing a prominent place in dubbing.
She had rendered her voice to heroines including Sumalatha, Urvasi, Jayapradha (in Iniyum Kadha Thudarum), Suhasini, Karthika, Parvathy, Gauthami, Suhasini, Sobhana, Sukanya, Sharada, Saritha, Suchitra, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan (Devasuram), Bhanupriya, Rekha, Revathi, Renjini, Mohini, Nanditha Bose, Vinayaprasad, Kanaka, Khushboo and many more.
The state award for dubbing artist was instituted in 1991 and Anandavally won the award in 1992 for dubbing for the character Sethulakshmy portrayed by Geetha. In 1993, she dubbed for both Geetha and Nandhitha Bose in the movie ‘Paithrukam’. “She had handled multiple characters in many movies. That was how dedicated she was. She was not egoistic and was ready to render voice for even small characters,” said Bhagyalakshmi.
In several interviews, Ananadavally had said dubbing for Madhavi’s character Annie in the movie ‘Akashadoothu’ was one of her personal favourites. Similarly, she was also experimental as she tried out her voice in different dialects including for Bengali actor Lebani Sarkar in the movie ‘Ponthan Mada’ (1983). While dubbing for Usha Uthup in the movie ‘Pothen Vava’ (2006) she altered her voice so that it sounded apt for the singer-actor.