So much lost in translation

After Kaathal’s Hindi version erroneously refers to ‘homosexual’ as ‘self-pleasure’, queer activist bodies write to Amazon; streamer promptly rectifies dialogue

Counted as one of the best Indian films of 2023, Kaathal —The Core reached a wider audience across the country when it dropped on Amazon Prime Video on January 5. Soon, praise poured in for the Mammootty and Jyothika-starrer that, under Jeo Baby’s direction, tells the story of a middle-aged man struggling to come out of the closet. However, a dialogue in the dubbed Hindi version of the Malayalam drama has upset the queer community for erroneously referring to ‘homosexual’ as ‘self-pleasure’. Two days ago, a few queer activist bodies wrote to the streamer asking for necessary changes. 

In a courtroom scene, the defendant’s lawyer asks Jyothika’s character how she knew Mathew, Mammootty’s character, is homosexual. In the Hindi version, the line went, “Aapko kaise pata chala Mathew self-pleasure rog se grasit hai?” A source says, “The term used in the Malayalam dialogue was Sva-vargarati, wherein ‘sva’ means self and ‘rati’ can mean pleasure. Many viewers too pointed it out to Prime Video, asking them to rectify it.” The platform immediately took cognisance and made the necessary changes. On Tuesday morning, the dubbed versions incorporated the term ‘homosexual’ in almost all sequences where it is referred to, especially in the court scenes. However, some viewers have noted that in a scene at the 74th minute, despite the subtitle reading ‘homosexuality’, the dialogue still mentions ‘self-pleasure’.

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