This ‘Don’ made Tom Hanks speak in Hindi

He was the man who played the role of a senior don (and an arch rival of Shah Rukh Khan and Boman Irani) in ‘Don - The Chase Begins Again’. Wait, that’s not all. He was also an integral part of recently released ‘Angels & Demons’. And the ‘Pirates’ series. And ‘Matrix Revolutions’. And many more Hollywood flicks. Well, he is Rajesh Khattar, the man who has made actors of the likes of Tom Hanks, Johhny Depp, Hugh Jackman, The Rock, Nicolas Cage, Lambert Wilson and many more talk in Hindi. As an experienced voice artist, he has dubbed for these Hollywood celebrities in Hindi.

"Well, there must have been close to 80 films where I have dabbled with Hindi dubbing for main leads in Hollywood films ", says Khattar whose latest assignment is ‘Angels & Demons’, where he is the voice of Tom Hanks (he had also dubbed for the actor in ‘The Da Vinci Code), "While I was quite active on television till some time back and have also been quite prominent on the plays circuit, currently I am concentrating on films. Ever since the the release of ‘Don - The Chase Begins Again’, further recognition has come my way and I am choosing my projects quite carefully.

So, the obvious question is - ‘What’s up next ?’

"Hey, you question sounds like Aamir Khan’s mobile ad", smiles Khattar who got married to Vandana Sajnani (another popular name from Mumbai theatre circuit) last year, "I have quite a few movies lined up for release. There is Sagar Ballery’s ‘Kacha Limboo’, Tips’ ‘Prince Of Thieves’, Studio 18’s ‘Ishq Unpluuged’, Jagmohan Mundhra’s ‘Chase’, Isshaan Trivedi’s next and a few more. All these films are expected to release this year so hopefully I have an eventful second half of 2009 coming up."

Is there any particular movie that he is banking on the most?

"All of them", pats comes an expectedly diplomatic reply, "They are all good movies with contemporary subjects but then no one can predict that which out of these movies will find favour with the audience. I would just wish all of them to be super duper hits though."

Meanwhile, what happens to TV? After all, till some time back, he was quite prominent on the television circuit!

"No, nothing really in near future! But hey, it’s not by choice. It’s just that no one has offered anything good for a while. I hope though that something interesting does come my way because I have enjoyed my TV stint for really long. I have always maintained I will never leave TV", says Khattar. - SAMPURN (Joginder Tuteja)