Tamil Nadu Dubbing Union Condemns Lokesh Kanagaraj For Engaging Banned Artist Chinmayi Shripada In Leo

Thalapathy Vijay – starrer Leo was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023. It was directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and starred Thalapathy Vijay in the lead role along with actress Trisha and Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt in prominent roles. The movie grossed over Rs 600 crore worldwide at the box office. The film was released in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages. This film went through a series of oppositions from the censor board regarding the expletives, bloody sequences and gore scenes. It underwent 13 minor changes as per CBFC’s orders. Apart from this, the film also grabbed the headlines regarding the selection of the dubbing artist for actress Trisha’s voice in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. The banned Tamil Nadu dubbing artist, Chinmayi Sripaada dubbed for Trisha in Leo. After this, during the interview of Rajendran, Vice-President of the Dubbing Union, asks for strict action against Chinmayi Sripaada for dubbing even after the ban from the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU).

Chinmayi Sripaada was banned from the Dubbing Union of Tamil Nadu following her refusal to pay subscription fees. As per the rules, the dubbing artists who are not part of the dubbing union are not allowed to give their voice for dub in the movies. Rajendran, vice-president of the dubbing union, had said in a recent interview that Chinmayi had dubbed because Lokesh Kanagaraj encouraged her. Chinmayi was a member of the dubbing union. When she was asked to pay and renew the membership, she refused to pay citing that she is a lifetime member. Hence, the Union suspended his membership. Following this, Chinmayi went to court. The court ruled in favour of Chinmayi Sprada partially and put an interim stay on her ban.

After spending lakhs in the court case, the playback singer didn’t pay the membership money which resulted in a tremendous loss for the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU). After the recent outing of Chinmayi Sprada in Leo, the dubbing union Vice-President blamed Lokesh Kanagaraj for supporting this unlawful act of encouraging a banned dubbing artist for the movie. After this, Lokesh Kanagaraj gave 50,000 to the dubbing union for hiring Chinmayi as a dubbing artist for actress Trisha. As per the SICTADAU, If a non-member of the association is hired to do the dubbing, it is customary to pay a certain amount to the association.