Shahrukh Khan advised by Shaan “don’t destroy an iconic film”
For those of you who have seen the trailer of The Lion King (the Hindi version) will agree that Shahrukh Khan has not done justice with the character of Mufasa. King Khan has fallen well short of being the Lion King.
The King of Bollywood could not give his voice a larger than life feel required for this particular character. In a recent tweet Pakistani super star Shaan has advised Shahrukh Khan to change his voice in order to suit the character of Mufasa.
The Hindi version of the film carries the voices of SRK and his young son Aryan Khan for Mufasa and Simba respectively. The Lion King is a remake of 1994 animated classic with the same name. The movie is directed by Iron Man famed Jon Favreau.
Shaan’s tweet came in response to a trailer of the movie shared by Shahrukh Khan. In a later tweet Shaan said “James Earl Jones must be laughing… what Shahrukh Khan failed to understand if that the characters in the film are sketched according to the dubbing artists facial expressions… if you see Simba he resembles Matthew Broderick.”
Shahrukh Khan has always been a romantic chocolate hero. We have not seen him doing character actor roles. His voice in the Lion King does recall the SRK we are accustomed to in numerous Bollywood movies. He could have changed his voice quality and the style of speaking.
Amitabh Bachchan could have been a much better choice for this dub. His voice has base and the ability to play with it.
Shaan’s back to back tweets, schooling King Khan on how to become a voice artist has irked the fans of SRK on the other side of the border. But there is nothing wrong what Shaan has said. SRK should have done better.
There is no dearth of talent in India. The important thing is to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of an artist. Shahrukh Khan is a big star with a huge fan following around the world, but if he is not good at dubbin he should not attempt projects as big as The Lion King.
