Rensil D\'Silva puzzled by UTV\'s decision to dub a crucial scene in Hindi

UTV the co-producers of the just-released Kurbaan, have gone and dubbed into Hindi a crucial English-language class-room discussion on Islam and the Western world featuring Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi and a large group of Caucasian Asian-American students in Hindi. Upset by this linguistic liberty taken in his film, Rensil says, ''The white students speaking in Hindi sounds so artificial. I'm upset in many ways, this discussion of Islamic fundamentalism and America is the crux of the theme. Dubbing it in Hindi takes away from its seriousness.'' Rensil doesn't claim ignorance to UTV's plans. ''They had assured me that the dubbing was only for a very small number prints that would go in the Hindi belt where English is not understood.'' Instead UTV has dubbed the vital sequence in 500 prints of Kurbaan. Explains UTV's CEO Siddharth Roy Kapoor, ''It's an important scene for the audience to understand as it details out the core debate in the film. In order to not alienate a non-English speaking audience we've dubbed this scene in certain areas.'' Rensil feels especially let down since he has not once compromised on the spoken language of the film. ''Saif, Vivek, Kareena and Diya speak in a mixture of Hindi and English. Kirron Kher too has her own speech pattern. It's only in the crucial scene that the linguistic integrity is compromised.''