- The English trailer of Ramayana was released with perfect lip-sync
- A bespoke AI-powered workflow was developed to create seamless lip movement synchronisation
- Voice actors were hired to match the nuance of original performances for the English version
The makers of Ramayana unveiled the English trailer of the film online on Wednesday. While the visuals remained identical to the Hindi version, it was one striking detail that left fans amazed: the actors' lip movements matched the English dialogue almost perfectly.
The seamless synchronisation sparked widespread discussion on social media, with many viewers wondering whether the cast had re-shot scenes or dubbed the English version themselves. The answer, however, lies in a blend of human performance and cutting-edge artificial intelligence.
Speaking to NDTV, producer Namit Malhotra revealed how the team developed a bespoke AI-powered workflow to make the film feel as natural as possible for international audiences.
Explaining the process, Malhotra said, "It is a very interesting process that is followed. What I was very clear about was we must use technology to make it easy-that means make it seamless so that people are not looking at subtitles or dubbed versions and make it as close to the original as we can."
Instead of relying on the film's actors to dub the English version, the makers brought in a team of voice actors to recreate every nuance of the original performances.
"Fortunately, what we did was we hired a whole bunch of voice actors who really brought the nuance of performance in their voices. Then we created our own bespoke technology, which helped stitch the lip movements of those performances on to the faces of the actors," he said.
According to Malhotra, the technology is designed to support the performances rather than replace them.
"It really is a man-and-machine combination. As we always say, the heart of it is human. All the emotions are human. What the technology is doing is making it look seamless," he added.
The technology enables the characters' lip movements to align naturally with the English dialogue, creating the illusion that they are speaking the language on screen. The aim, Malhotra said, is to remove the distraction often associated with dubbed versions and reduce audiences' dependence on subtitles, making the viewing experience more immersive across languages.
The English trailer has already generated significant buzz online, with many praising its near-flawless lip synchronisation. If the response is anything to go by, Ramayana could set a new benchmark for how Indian films are localised for global audiences using AI.
