Globalising Bollywood: My Name Is Khan from India to Italy through Hollywood

Vincenza Minutella

Introduction: Multilingual Films and Audiovisual Translation

The translation of multilingual films is a growing area of research within audiovisual translation (De Bonis, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c; De Higes Andino, 2009, 2014a, 2014b; Delabastita & Grutman, 2005; Dwyer, 2005; Federici, 2009; Heiss, 2004; §erban & Meyelaerts, 2014). Several studies have analysed the Italian versions of multilingual films, in particular films dealing with migrant identity and describing the diasporic experience of South-Asian immigrants living in the UK or the US, where the speakers are often bilingual and tend to switch and mix languages (Antonucci, 2011; Bonsignori, 2011, 2012; Bonsignori & Bruti, 2014; Minutella, 2012a, 2012b; Monti, 2009, 2014; Russo, 2016). However, most of the research has focused on films made by diasporic, UK- or US-based directors such as Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) or Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice), or by British directors such as Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and Ken Loach (Ae Fond Kiss). A Western cinematic eye and aesthetics tend to filter the foreign elements in these films, and although they contain language contact and alternation, English is their main language since their primary audience is Western and international. On the other hand, the translation and reception of Indian Bollywood Hindi films is still under-researched, especially in the language combination Hindi-English-Italian, and very few studies have been devoted to 'truly' Indian films (Antonucci, 2011; Minutella, 2012b; Russo, 2016). However, since Indian films seem to be gaining in popularity both internationally and in Italy, the way in which they are translated deserves closer attention.

Aims and Methodology

The aim of this chapter is to investigate how the multilingual Bollywood film My Name Is Khan (Karan Johar, 2010) has travelled from its Indian source culture to the Italian target culture. In particular, it examines language use in this Indian multilingual film and tries to understand how languages and the film itself are manipulated in the production, distribution and translation-adaptation-dubbing processes. In other words, My Name Is Khan is used as a case study to describe, in order to understand, the phenomena and agents involved in the process of translating this film for Italian-speaking audiences. The screenplay, the film dialogue, the master English subtitle/spotting list, the Italian dialogue and the Italian dubbed version are analysed. Moreover, we draw on interviews with the screenplay writer, the dubbing director and the dialogue writer. As a result, the chapter aims to shed some light on the production, translation, adaptation and distribution of this Indian film and on the constraints that are at play from a linguistic and cinematic perspective. In doing so, we also unveil the processes of writing, rewriting, manipulation and domestication that this Indian film has undergone before reaching its Italian audience. On a purely linguistic level, the chapter investigates the role of language(s) in representing the hybrid, bilingual identity of the Indian characters, and tries to understand how the Italian dubbing professionals have tackled the challenges posed by this film. We try to ascertain how the linguistic and cultural 'otherness' of the film as well as the ethnic and religious identity of the Indian characters have been tackled by the US distributors and by Italian dubbing professionals.

My Name Is Khan

My Name Is Khan (MNIK, 2010) is an Indian Hindi film directed by Karan Johar – one of India's most successful young directors and producers starring Bollywood's big stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. The screenplay was written by Shibani Bathija, with dialogues in Hindi and English by Bathija and Niranjan Yiengar, who was also the author of the song lyrics. MNIK was produced by Johar's Dharma Productions, Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment and Fox Star Studios – a joint venture between Twentieth Century Fox and STAR India – and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. It is thus an Indian film co-produced with Hollywood, and it represents a successful attempt to take Bollywood to the world. As Jim Gianopulos, CEO of Twentieth Century Fox, explained in an interview, My Name Is Khan 'is still the biggest Bollywood film around the world in history and we are very proud of that fact, [...] we were able to take a film made in Bollywood with the greatest of talent and introduce that talent to more parts of the world' (Ahuja, 2012: online). The film enjoyed considerable international distribution and success: it was screened at the Berlin and Rome Film Festivals and it broke several box office records in India, the UK and the US, becoming one of India's highest grossing films in both the domestic market and overseas (Mahmood & Mitra, 2011).

My Name Is Khan follows the life of Rizvan Khan, an Indian Muslim affected by Asperger's syndrome, from his youth in India to his migration to the multicultural US, where he lives with his brother Zakir and his sister-in-law Hasina. There, he works, gets married to a Hindu single mother, Mandira Rathod, and lives a happy successful life with her and her son Sameer until tragedy hits their family, when Sameer is killed by a group of teenagers during a racially motivated fight. To win...