Aishwarya Rai Bachchan goes Arabic

For filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, this is a first. His next release Jazbaa will be dubbed in Arabic for markets in Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as parts of southern Iraq and Jordan — which collectively form the Arabian Peninsula, also known as Arabia.

Jazbaa is being produced by Essel Vision Productions Ltd, (the creative and production studio of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), actor/producer/entrepreneur Sachiin Joshi’s Viking Entertainment and Gupta’s White Feather Films.

Says Gupta, “Releasing it in Arabia was Essel Vision’s Business Head Akash Chawla’s brainchild. Zee Arabia is the biggest satellite channel in the Arabian peninsula and to have a platform as big as that, is wonderful. It’s certainly a first-of-its-kind release. The way the film is structured — it’s a hard-core, fast-paced, action thriller — makes it even better. That market is very receptive to this kind of cinema. It’s time to explore the non-traditional markets for films now. Everybody wants to see good movies. PK was released in China and went on to gross Rs100 crore there. Who’d have thought the Chinese would love a film considered anti-religious in India?”

Gupta adds that they will add some songs in Arabic too. “The end credit song (the title track), composed by Sachin-Jigar, will be shot with a top Arabic singer there after which we will release it also as a promotional video in Arabia. We are still to shoot the Hindi track. For the dubbing bit, Zee has shortlisted some companies and will be selecting from the best vocal talent they have. Jazbaa is a bilingual, but not the typical kind!”