Vayaputra Nagarjuna – Dubbing artist

The spirit to live life to the fullest, that’s Vayuputra Nagarjuna for you, a commerce lecturer in Little Flower Junior College, Uppal whose one of the most sought after dubbing artist in the Telugu film industry today. He is now the latest trend after popular dubbing artists like Sai Kumar and Ratan Kumar.
His voice was noticed for the first time in Tipu Sultan (Telugu remake) where he dubbed for Sanjay Khan and has done many other Manjula Naidu’s serials.
He has dubbed in 150 films, like for Venu (Chirunavvutho and Hanuman Junction), Suman (Lahiri Lahiri Lahiri Lo), Prabhudeva (Santhosham), for Prithivi, Vineeth, Akash, Anand, and many other villains and actors in their films. Premakosam, Jandam, and Swayamvaram were some of his other hits. He has the success of ‘Premalo Pavani Kalyana’ the latest super hit in his kitty where he dubbed for the hero Deepak and has many more in line. Speaking to Hyderabad Times Entertainment in Little Flower Junior College, Vayuputra Nagarjuna says, “I always wanted to become an actor but when I lost my leg in an accident I realised it would be difficult to manage college and films. I would get tired”. But that didn’t let him down. He tried his hand at Yuva Vani (radio) where he recited poetry people were taken back there with his voice, presentation and his voice modulation. He then was a casual announcer in AIR and News presenter in Doordarshan. He says, “I wasn’t happy with the remuneration, as it was peanuts. So I focused towards dubbing. The compliments I received in Yuva Vani encouraged me to become a voice caster”. He then got a break to make jingles and for advertisements, which were spot recordings; there he received a break in a movie (Eerrasainyam) to dub for a naxalite. He shares an experience with Producer R.Narayana moorthy, while dubbing for this movie, “It was the first time I was working with him and he gave me a full-page dialog. I did it without a retake. All the character artists, producers, directors stood up and gave a loud applause. With every such experience I developed more and more confidence”, he puts in excitedly. Such experiences made Vayaputra Nagarjuna a seasonal artist. Whether it was for a character of a lover boy or a dangerous villain he has done it all. He is now the latest trend after popular dubbing artists like Sai Kumar and Ratan Kumar.
Is proper time of delivery of speech the secret behind perfect dubbing?
He disagrees with this statement. He says, “It’s neither your face on the screen, nor it’s your time of delivery that gives an impact. It’s necessary to match the actor’s actions within the limitation is where one has to prove oneself. One is a good dubbing artist when people wouldn’t be able to make out whether the actor voice has been dubbed or not.” He advises the young upcoming artists not to join this field if it’s with the intention of becoming a celebrity. “The field looks very attractive but it’s very different from acting. But if someone has got a good voice and modulation he should definitely try but should not entirely depend on dubbing, as the remuneration is not even five percent of what a star gets. The industry has a step motherly treatment towards the dubbing artist’s, as the whole responsibility of the film does not depend on the dubbing artist. Keep other alternatives in mind and educate yourself well and that will lead you to achieve anything in life”, he says cheerfully.
Siddamsetty ShriPuja

Lawrence-Coreographer

Lawrence a favourite choreographer for actors like Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi never had to look back after his movies like Hitler and Master. People just loved his choreography after that and has become the life of Telugu and Tamil industry. We catch Lawrence choreographing a ‘gundammo gundammo’ song,for a B.Gopal direction film casting Balakrishna and Aarti Agrawal at Padmalaya studios. Aarti says that, “Lawrence garu is a good friend. I plead him sometimes to change my steps when it gets difficult for me. But he shows confidence in me and makes me practice a little more until it becomes comfortable”.
When we ask Lawrence about his passion for dance, he says, “Youngster’s love to dance to my steps”. “They tell me that my choreographed numbers are a hit in their school functions”, he says excitedly. I make most of my steps keeping the masses and youngsters in mind “I am not a born dancer, my belief in my talent and my hardworking nature was my first step to success. My systematic practice and self-confidence is all what I had. I had a paralytic attack up to the age of seven. One part of my body wasn’t functioning at all. It’s because of God’s grace I am here. I had no helping background in the industry. I started as a small time dancer and came to this level now. God is always there to do justice to our hardwork.

It was Superstar Rajnikanth’s recommendation, which gave me a chance to join film industry. Rs 10,000/- was payed to Dancer’s Association on my behalf and bought the card for me. I was trained under choreographers Shiva Shankar and Prabhu Deva. I became a full-fledged dance master in just two years. For a year, I worked for small productions. It was Chiranjeevi who spotted me and offered me the film Hitler. I always knew that the 'Veena Step' in Indra for 'Daayi Daayi damma' would become a big craze once the film released. Chiranjeevi gave his best and spent 9 hours practicing that Veena step in New Zealand. “Lawrence I am sweating” was what he told me. Rajnikath is a great dancer. While working with him in Baba, I got very conscious. But later I got used to it. Young bubbly actors like Mahesh Babu, Junior NTR, are very professional on the sets. They give me the satisfaction at the end of it. Bala Krishna still continues his spirit and puts his soul into his dance.

In the beginning people always asked me why did I have separate group of dancers from Chennai and why didn’t I encourage local lads from Hyderabad. Hyderabadi dancers were not as good as now when I started my career. I used to have 30% dancers from Hyderabad and now it has increased to 60%.

As I am a big devotee of Lord Raghavendra Swamy, my ambition always was to build a temple for him. I have built a temple for him in Madras. One day, I will make the biggest temple for him and that’s my dream. After a long time I made a debut as a hero in this run of the mill story ‘Arpudham', a Super good Production's Tamil film that was released on the 12th of September. I am currently doing another film called 'Style' in Tamil. I am also ready to do good massy item numbers.
I give my full commitment to the producer and I would like to honestly admit that it's the team’s work and the actor and actress’s commitment, which gives the ultimate hit.
“I still get worried sometimes when I get the songs for Choreographing. The tunes and the beats scare the wits out of me but still I put my best in it to make it a hit. I listen to the rhythm and beat and I automatically begin to move to the music. Keeping the hero in mind as each one has a style I compose the dance moves. I study the actor’s body language and compose steps that suit their body language. I also keep the fans of that particular hero in mind and accordingly compose steps that exhilarate those fans”, says he.