Jon Favreau’s live-action adaptation of The Lion King will be getting that much needed publicity push in India, after it was announced that Shah Rukh Khan and son, Aryan, will be dubbing for the Hindi version of film. Shah Rukh Khan made a very cryptic announcement on his Twitter handle by donning the jerseys of ‘Mufasa’ and ‘Simba’ respectively, ahead of the India-Pakistan clash at the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup, 2019. It also happened to be Father’s Day, something Shah Rukh Khan mentioned in his tweet.
BIGGG NEWS… Shah Rukh Khan teams up with son Aryan to do voice over for Disney’s #TheLionKing in HINDI… SRK will do voice over for the King of the Jungle, Lion Mufasa, while Aryan will do voice over for Mufasa’s son Simba… 19 July 2019 release. pic.twitter.com/lWJVK3Zoz5
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) June 17, 2019
Barely 12 hours after the superstar put out that tweet, did the Disney executives make their announcement official. This isn’t the first time the father-son duo are dubbing in Hindi for a film. They participated in Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004), where Shah Rukh dubbed for the protagonist (called Mr. Lajawaab in Hindi) and Aryan lent his voice for the son, Dash.
This time around though, Shah Rukh’s role is going to comparatively more brief, while Aryan Khan will have a significantly larger responsibility compared to his earlier gig. Especially since, Aryan Khan’s Hollywood counterpart is none other than Donald Glover, lending his voice for Simba. While Mufasa has been voiced by veteran voice actor, James Earl Jones.
Favreau’s live-action adaptation of the 1994 animation classic, comes right after Favreau’s The Jungle Book (2016) earned more than a billion dollars worldwide. Featuring the state-of-the-art motion capture technology that allows the animals to talk like human beings, the latest version of The Lion King hopes to re-tell the classic saga of Simba avenging his father’s death over his uncle, Scar.
Aryan Khan has previously appeared in a tiny role during the opening montage of Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), and is currently studying filmmaking in the University of Southern California. With Khan Jr’s acting aspirations being quite apparent, maybe the Hindi dub of The Lion King will give us a fair peek into the star kid’s potential for the job.
The Lion King is slated for its worldwide release on July 19.
