After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival 2022, R. Madhavan’s directorial debut ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ was finally released in theatres on 1st July. And along with the film’s release, a revolutionary technology has simultaneously made its way for cinephiles. We are talking about Vineet Kashyap and Aditya Kashyap’s ‘Cinedubs’, which offers a solution to overcome the language barrier while watching a movie in a theatre. Let’s first delve into the basic working of Cinedubs.
Cinedubs is a mobile application which can be downloaded from Google Play or Apple Store. What the application does is that it allows its users to hear the movie in their preferred language using their smartphones irrespective of the language in which it is playing in the theatre. And not just in India, Cinedubs will allow viewers across eight countries to enjoy a film in their preferred language.
For instance, in case a Hindi speaking viewer wants to watch ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ in a theatre that’s running the film in Malayalam language, he can download the soundtrack of that movie in Hindi language through the Cinedubs application and the app will automatically live sync the dialogues in Hindi with the exact scene of the movie running inside a theatre in front of the user.
While the underlying idea behind the Cinedubs app is indeed innovative and revolutionary despite being beautifully simple, we are apprehensive about one thing: its practical application. When a moviegoer uses the Cinedubs app for listening to any movie he is watching in a theatre, first of all he/she will need headphones (for obvious reasons).
However, in case of a decent cinema hall equipped with high powered sound output, how enjoyable and practical would it be to hear the movie’s dialogue on your headphones at the same time when the movie is playing in the theatre in another language? We haven’t tried the Cinedubs app yet, but we guess we’re going to need a really nice pair of good quality headphones with superb noise cancellation. Perhaps we’ll get a better idea once we actually try the app while watching a movie in a theatre.
Having said that, it would be interesting to see what kind of solution to the potential sound overlapping issue the makers of Cinedubs app have in store for prospective users and movie goers.
The Cinedubs application also intends to benefit theatre owners in a big way. Because the app has the potential to attract more moviegoers from different regions of India to the theatres, because the app’s underlying motive is to eliminate language barriers.
With a passionate filmmaker of R. Madhavan’s caliber as Cinedubs’ brand ambassador, we hope that after path breaking technologies like 3D/IMAX/4DX/Dolby Atmos, Cinedubs will turn out to be the next big thing for the film industry globally. Moreover, for theatre owners, who are reeling under the pressure of their formidable competitors – OTT platforms, Cinedubs might give them the much-needed edge to entice movie buffs back to cinemas.