THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘Saranga’ is an unusually quiet home for someone who can switch to any number of voices in a few seconds. Sarada teacher, the storyteller, lives here. She is the scheming witch Dakini in the animated movie ‘Mayavi’, the red Panda friend Kichi in ‘Jungle Book’ and the ageing crane, the intelligent crab, the cunning fox and a dozen other characters in the highly successful animated series ‘Manjadi’. In her career as dubbing artist that spans more than two decades, Sarada teacher would agree that love and honour have never come calling like this before. Ever since she became the storyteller for kids through the animated series, her world has changed.At 65, she has a kid in her who simply refuses to grow, she admits. “I was almost a tomboy during my childhood days. I was the only child of my parents. At our ancestral house in North Paravoor, during the holidays, I climbed trees and roamed around the place with my cousins. I loved to do monoact and mimicry during school and college days. May be, it’s the kid in me who keeps alive the pep in my voice,’’ she says.Sarada teacher took to the profession in 1986 when filmmaker Padmarajan offered her ‘Parannu Parannu Parannu’ to dub for actress Rohini, the leading lady in the movie. Till then, she was content being the wife of a bank employee and mother of three children, attending to their needs at their house at Sasthamangalam in the capital city. After the initial hiccups, on the third day of the dubbing, Sarada caught hold of the pulse of her job, she says. “Apart from my first film, I think I did my best in every work,’’ she quips. It was T P Radhamony teacher who ushered her into the world of dubbing. Sarada, who was a school teacher (in Physics) then, got the breakthrough with her work in Adoor’s ‘Anantharam’ (for Shobhana). Since then, she has dubbed for artists like Menaka, Lissie, Urmila Unni, Valsala Menon and many others. “It is for Urmila that I have dubbed the most, covering films and serials. Once, when she received the Critics’ Award, Urmila had said that she would share it with me. Such moments are an inspiration for a dubbing artist,” recalls Sarada teacher. The dubbing artist in her finally welcomed the big moment when the State Television Awards for 2009 were declared and she was honoured with the award for best female dubbing artist for her work in the telefilm ‘Agneyam’, aired on Doordarshan. She had lent voice for a character who ages from 40 to 70 in the film. Her work in the serial ‘Sthree Janmam’, in which she gave voice to two prominent characters with all its nuances and shades in place, was highly applauded. She has worked in the films ‘Pramani’ and ‘Oru Naal Varum’. Presently, she is working for the serial ‘Kumkumappoovu’ (Asianet). But nothing matches the appreciation that has been pouring in for her work in the animated films by Hibiscus Designs. “Mostly parents call up to say my voice fills the gap of a storyteller in their homes,” she is all smiles. Recently, during her trip to the UK to visit her daughter, Sarada teacher was overwhelmed when she spotted the animated series and her voice being played in many homes, even at non-Malayali households there. It’s not easy though to be the voice of Dakini or a tigress. “In films, you have a pilot voice, an expression and a dialogue modulation that is expected of the character. In children’s films, you give life to the character with your voice. There is no pre-modulated dialogue delivery to go with. It all has to come from your imagination. The way Dakini yells ‘ayyoo...’ at many places, the manner in which a tiger exclaims - all these have to be imagined and delivered,’’ she explains. She might do it in a studio; but ask her to tell bedtime stories to her three grandchildren, she would be at a loss for words. She says, “I am not a gifted story-teller.” Anyone agrees?All said and done, she has her share of grief as well. Staying alone at her home, she misses her parents and husband who passed away in the course of the last one year. They are no longer there to see all the adulation that has come her way.
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