Perhaps the name Rekha Haricharan won’t ring a bell in India. She’s tremendously popular with fans of Indian cinema across the globe, though, and not without reasons. This vivacious lady has kindled the attention of NRIs to Indians cinema, through her work as a subtitling artist.
Completely relaxed, in her tastefully decorated apartment at Alwarpet, Chennai, Haricharan proves to be an interviewer’s delight — gregarious and articulate to a fault. Perhaps, it’s this virtue that has enabled her to juxtapose her love for languages and films. A Fine Arts-student of Stella Maris college, this bohemian is an established costume designer in films. Her workshop Sankalp in Chennai is in its 18th year. No wonder, filmmaker Gautam Menon exclaimed, “You do this too?” when she approached him for subtitling his Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya (VTV).
“It all began when I was doing costumes for my husband’s (director Haricharan) film Thoovanam. Cinematographer Madhu Ambat suggested I do the subtitles. I didn’t think much about it then and of course my first work was horrible,” she admits with an endearing frankness.
A casual attempt soon turned into a passion, when her subtitles for VTV received rave reviews from film buffs abroad. With an offer from director Shankar to work in the Rajinikanth-starrer Enthiran, ‘Rekhs’, as she is lovingly called, was here to stay. In the 18 months following Enthiran, she has subtitled 48 films, including blockbusters such as Ko, Mynah, Deiva Thirumagal, Nanban, Vettai and the now-running Marina and Muppozhudum Un Karpanaigal.
So how does she retain the ethos of the native phrases? “It’s challenging, especially with slang words and expletives. And Santhanam is my biggest enemy! How could one translate terms like agathiga or chapplakattai?” she asks in mock anger about the comedian’s famous, funny, out-of-the-world quips.
Subtitling is not just translating, she clarifies. “It’s difficult to find word-for-word equivalents, due to variations in semantic nuances. Liberties can be taken for the sake of readability. Yet, the onus is on us to strike the right balance between creativity and faithfulness to the original,” she grins.
“Knowledge of filmmaking, a thorough understanding of dialogues, creativity, and a good vocabulary are essential,” asserts this avid reader and amateur poet. Many films later, Rekhs has evolved her own style for subtitles, which makes her work stand apart.
“South Indian films have great content, talent and technology. Unfortunately, they do not reach global audiences. While filmmakers spend crores on a film, subtitling takes a backseat, or overseas distributors have to deal with it. This should change for greater marketability,” she opines.
An average film has around 2,200 dialogues. It takes 10-12 days, 10 hours per day, to turn in a good work. What keeps her going? “My cause is worthy: to make a difference to Sollywood (as she fondly calls the south Indian film industry) and to make the world sit up to our films,” she declares.