A mimicry artiste dubbing for Puneeth sir would have been an insult to his efforts in James: Director Chethan Kumar

Earlier today, filmmaker Chethan Kumar finally released the first teaser of late Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar’s last commercial film, James . While Puneeth’s stylish action avatar was the highlight of the teaser, fans have also been emotional hearing Shivarajkumar’s voice for the Power Star in the final moments of the video.

Chethan believes that having Shivarajkumar provide his voice for the character was the right thing to do. “Dubbing for Puneeth was quite an emotional moment for Shivanna. But hats off to him; despite the pain and sorrow of this terrible personal loss, he put on a brave face and came to the recording studio. He has tried to modulate is voice in accordance with Appu sir’s style of speech and has done complete justice to the character. As a filmmaker, I had the option of using a mimicry artiste who would have perhaps sounded a lot like Appu sir, but I felt that would be an insult to the effort that has gone into the making of the film. A mimicry artiste would sound clinical and not embody the emotions required in the film, but now, with Shivanna’s voice, there’s life in Appu sir’s character in the film. It’s perfect,” said Chethan, speaking to the media.

Talking about the response to the teaser, the filmmaker added, “Fans are overjoyed with some of the punchlines in the teaser, which were written for Appu (Puneeth) sir. He was in such fantastic physical shape that it made absolute sense to write about him as a one-man army who is as good as 100 people together. On the one hand, the teaser release today is a happy occasion, but it is also saddening because Appu sir is not with us.”