The dubbed Hindi version we hear, has softened the impact of the smut-quotient. Dirty words have been downsized, so to speak.
There seems to be no end to the shock-value provided by Delhi Belly. However it now comes to light that the language in the dubbed Hindi version of the film is far less in-your-face colourful than in the English version.
Producer Aamir Khan took a conscious decision to make the Hindi version less risqué and offensive.
Says a source, "When it was decided that there will be two versions of Delhi Belly in the original English and in a dubbed Hindi version, the initial plan was to bring all the angrezi abusive swear words, terms questioning the characters' parentage and the colourful coinages describing the copulatory act, into a faithful translation into Hindi. "
But then apparently Aamir in all his wisdom decided that those words sounded really obnoxious in Hindi.
Says a source, "There was no way we could have the crude Hindi ‘ch' word for reproduction being reproduced in the Hindi version of Delhi Belly. Wherever the ‘F' word occurs we've softened the blow by using a Hindi euphemism like ‘leta hai' and ‘deti hai'. "
Ironically there were more Hindi expletives and cusswords in the English version than there are now in Hindi.
Says the source, "For instance the three friends call each by the crudest word for the phallus in Hindi. That's there in the English version but gone from the dubbed Hindi version. "So is the Hindi version of Delhi Belly targeted at a more conservative, less irreverent audience?
Says Aamir's spokesperson. "You could say that. The Hindi version is far less colourful. This was a conscious decision taken to make the Hindi version more acceptable to a wider adult audience. But there was no original English version.
What you're referring to as an English version of Delhi Belly is actually a ‘Hinglish' version. 70 percent of it is in English and 30 percent is in Hindi. But the Hindi version is 100 percent in Hindi. And yes the Hindi version has far less colourful in language. "
Perhaps Ranbir Kapoor can watch the Hindi version of Delhi Belly with his parents. When I had asked him why he opted not to do Delhi Belly he said, "I couldn't see myself watching the film with my parents at the premiere. "
