Bipasha Basu is attempting to ditch her Bengali accent during the dubbing of upcoming film Lamhaa, to more accurately portray her character.
The actress has reportedly been secretly practicing her diction for months in an effort to get her performance perfect. Though Bengali is Bipasha’s first language, Lamhaa – a socio-political drama tackling the issue of militancy in Kashmir – calls on Bips to speak fluent Urdu as a Kashmiri Muslim.
“It is tough, really tough because I don’t really understand Urdu. But I’m never one to shun the urge to learn. I find it great fun. And my director Rahul Dholakia is very patient and chilled out,” Bipasha said of the challenge.
Director Rahul Dholakia has reportedly enlisted sound recordist Manoj Sikka to help monitor Bipasha’s diction to ensure its accuracy.
“At the moment I’m simultaneously doing two very different jobs on two of my very different films. While I’m editing my social satire Society, I am supervising the dubbing of my film on Kashmir, Lamhaa. Dubbing the dialogues of a film with as vast a historical-political canvas as Lamhaa is very tough. I wish I could devote more attention to Bipasha. But she’s doing a fine job,” said Dholakia.
Bips is not alone in having to work at modifying her accent for the film. Lamhaa co-star Kunal Kapoor is reportedly also working hard to tone down his Punjabi accent to appear authentically Kashmiri.
