Vague hint Dragon Ball Z may have had an Indian English dub at one point

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I've spoken to one source who recalls Cartoon Network India airing an alternate English dub of Dragon Ball Z around 2005 or 2006.

Most fans I've discussed this with doesn't think its likely and that he must be confusing it with the Hindi dub, but speaking of which last year Ankur Javeri, the voice of Goku gave an interview where he made some cryptic remarks, which does lend credibility to the idea::

I had previously worked on a different film at the same dubbing studio, and it was during that time they were searching for the Hindi voice of Goku. I consider myself fortunate to have auditioned for the role, and it happened to match the English counterpart perfectly, like a soul-to-soul connection. At that time, Cartoon Network India knew they had found their Indian Goku. Initially, there was minimal awareness in India about who this character was or what the series represented in Japan or globally. Hence, our team of artists faced the challenge of delivering our best efforts, ultimately surpassing expectations by putting in double the effort. As a result, the Hindi dub of Dragon Ball Z continues to resonate with all anime and Dragon Ball enthusiasts. This series is often referred to as the pioneer of anime in India, and it's a big achievement for Cartoon Network and myself.

The curious bit is of course this "English counterpart" Javeri refers to, as from what I've heard his Goku doesn't sound like Ian James Corlett, Peter Kelamis or Sean Schemmel.

There also was a Hindi Goku before Javeri as he took over from Amar Babaria in season 2. I'm not sure when exactly season 2 was in India though Cartoon Network had been airing Dragon Ball Z in some form since 2001 when Toonami launched. Another thing I've noticed is Javeri's comments suggest when he was cast in 2006 Goku and Dragon Ball in general was not very well known in India, although the blog goes on to say "Cartoon Network nailed it’s ratings by appeasing action-hungry boys with DBZ, while girls got their share of Shoujo* in the form of Cardcaptors. But Cartoon Network India had a penchant for airing serials incompletely: it screwed DBZ".

Ankur Javeri seems very likeable and fan-focused in the interviews I've seen, so while these two accounts about how popular Dragon Ball Z was in India between 2001 and 2006 differ I'm going to guess he was not wrong but that during that time the show had not yet permeated India on a wide scale as it is a massive country with 22 officially recognized languages, so perhaps at some point Cartoon Network commissioned an English dub hoping to reach a wider audience as while it may not be native it is the most common language globally with Hindi trailing behind in third place.

As such I can theorize if Cartoon Network commissioned an English dub sometime between the initial Hindi broadcasts where Bararia played Goku and Javeri's casting the decision to go back to Hindi may have been made on the basis the English dub didn't do as well as they hoped so they ultimately decided to go back to the most popular language locally.

I've tried reaching out to other members of the Hindi cast, as if Ankur Javeri remembers being cast to voice match Goku there may be other members who may be able to further corroborate the existence of this English dub.

[Tian]

I had previously worked on a different film at the same dubbing studio, and it was during that time they were searching for the Hindi voice of Goku. I consider myself fortunate to have auditioned for the role, and it happened to match the English counterpart perfectly, like a soul-to-soul connection. At that time, Cartoon Network India knew they had found their Indian Goku. Initially, there was minimal awareness in India about who this character was or what the series represented in Japan or globally. Hence, our team of artists faced the challenge of delivering our best efforts, ultimately surpassing expectations by putting in double the effort. As a result, the Hindi dub of Dragon Ball Z continues to resonate with all anime and Dragon Ball enthusiasts. This series is often referred to as the pioneer of anime in India, and it's a big achievement for Cartoon Network and myself.

The curious bit is of course this "English counterpart" Javeri refers to, as from what I've heard his Goku doesn't sound like Ian James Corlett, Peter Kelamis or Sean Schemmel.

I am not calling voice actors liars but some of them tend to exaggerate or tell something different about their casting stories in interviews.

My guess is that either Turner or Warner India (Both companies manage the international dubs for Cartoon Network and its sister channels around the world) didn't really do the cast based on voice-match (resemble the original voice actor as much as possible) but on approximation (look for a voice according to the character's profile, both physically and mentally)

So yeah, I agree he didn't voice match none of the three English Gokus you mentioned.

Although, I can say his voice has some similarity with the late Kirby Morrow's, specially in young roles like
Robin and Terry McGinnis

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

That's fair enough, and honestly I think character matching is a much better approach than voice matching. It was the approach Karl Willems took for the Ocean Kai dub and I'm guessing any other great ADR director and their respective project.

For the record I'm not saying there was an Indian English dub, I'm sure most here would be wondering if there was why haven't we heard anything about it by now, but for what it's worth my sources memory is vague but he seems to recall the Hindi Goku and an English voice actor that sounded similar.

I don't think it's too likely Turner/Warner India were too familiar with Kirby Morrow's Goku as the Westwood dub was not as widely distributed and available as the Funimation dub.

I do agree though that these actor's accounts can sometimes differ from what actually happened but it's interesting to hear their stories nonetheless.

In any case India seemed to be getting Dragon Ball Z at a sluggish pace when it first aired if this Quora thread from 2012 is to be believed:

"Fan says":

Dragon Ball Z has been telecasting on Cartoon Network India for many years. Previously, it stopped telecasting in the middle of Season 1. Then, it disappeared for years and then repeated the telecast up until the middle of the Frieza saga. The same happened with the Cell saga, up to the last run, where it stops before the Kid Buu episode.

So what is the reason for the disappearance of the show midseason every time? Why not complete the full run of a season, even when the remaining episodes are easily available on the internet?

There are some rumors that it's because of the violent content or promotion of Indian made cartoons. But I am searching for true reason behind it

When the show returned in 2016 after a 7 year hiatus Cartoon Network reportedly skipped the whole Freeza saga and began airing two new episodes a day Monday-Friday so I guess they wanted to pick up the pace then.

Fast forward to 2023 and all of Kai (including Final Chapters) and Super plus Z dubs 5-9 and 12-13 (which are likely redubs) are dubbed and aired all within a few months. Times sure achanging

[Tian]

That's fair enough, and honestly I think character matching is a much better approach than voice matching. It was the approach Karl Willems took for the Ocean Kai dub and I'm guessing any other great ADR director and their respective project.

Yeah, while it's kinda cool to have voices to match, it doesn't always give good results because in some cases, the dubbed equivalent may sound either forced or unnatural.

Here in LatAm, Disney is the main one who does the voice-match casting.
According to several voice directors in both Argentina and Mexico, they usually have to propose 3 candidate actors who sound the most similar possible to the original voice or a carbon copy of it and Disney decides who out of those three gets the role.

For the record I'm not saying there was an Indian English dub, I'm sure most here would be wondering if there was why haven't we heard anything about it by now, but for what it's worth my sources memory is vague but he seems to recall the Hindi Goku and an English voice actor that sounded similar.

That sounds ambiguous, because the source may either meant:
1) The Hindi voice was similar to an English dub voice that was aired previously in the same channel.
Or...
2) The Hindi voice was similar to an English dub voice they've heard from another media like YouTube.

I personally think it's number 2 because as you mentioned, the Ocean dub wasn't aired there.

So probably, Ankur's voice reminded them of Kirby (the one who sounds the closest) because they may have watched a clip of the Ocean dub on Youtube.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I now think the obscure Peruvian dub exists now and is just waiting to come out. And Dragon Ball Ireland will be one of the 4 people tops who saw it.

That said, India went from "We like Doraemon and other Fujiko Fujio anime, enough to commision new episodes for the indian market, but that's it, anime is meh to us" to "We are outpacing the Middle East, Europe, and even Latin America as a new emerging profitable market for anime. Like REALLY huge fandom and mega profitable"

This is even more astounding in that India is a SURPRISINGLY huge market, like I wouldnt be surprised if billions are earned in India with astonishing casuality, but people outside India can barely make a dent into profitability within it. It's so hard to profit, that despite being such a huge market many have crashed and burned and the rule is "Just dont try with India, just dont". But anime slowly but surely melted India's defenses and hit the JACKPOT. Cartoon Network in India not only still thrives, but they also air anime and not only they do but its hugely profitable. And Dragon Ball is one of the biggest hits too.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

2) The Hindi voice was similar to an English dub voice they've heard from another media like YouTube.

I personally think it's number 2 because as you mentioned, the Ocean dub wasn't aired there.

So probably, Ankur's voice reminded them of Kirby (the one who sounds the closest) because they may have watched a clip of the Ocean dub on Youtube.

I think it's possible this individual may have conflated Kirby Morrow's Goku with Ankur Javeri as he's from the UK originally, but I don't think so.

From what I've seen of the Hindi dub you do hear some English words here and there so if it was a mandela thing that could be one explanation.

I now think the obscure Peruvian dub exists now and is just waiting to come out. And Dragon Ball Ireland will be one of the 4 people tops who saw it.

Heh, well unfortunately I can't claim to have seen any lost Dragon Ball dubs.

If any of you are interested in India I'd recommend watching this interview with Ankur Javeri. Basically part of the reason anime is now thriving in India and on Cartoon Network specifically is because of Javeri's work and dedication.

In this video Javeri said he took 6 months learning about anime and the Indian market and took it upon himself to take action by making awareness videos, collabbing with YouTubers as well as meeting with higher-ups.

It was when Javeri spoke to industry reps and producers and said the market wouldn't grow if not catered to he began to wrote up mailers and anime wishlists to send out to OTT platforms and channels he couldn't name (likely because of an NDA) with the help of people like Seaon D'costa (Z Hindi dub supervisor), Neshma Chemburkar, Rajesh Kava, Raishree Sharma and Mona Shetty.

Javeri also met with the head of Cartoon Network Abhishek Dutta who said if Javeri was showing interest he could advise on budgets for what the channel could acquire. Naturally they couldn't afford everything requested but since Dragon Ball is one of the most popular anime they went with it first.

Although Javeri didn't want to take credit for being the one who resurrected Indian anime dubbing it is great to see actors do this for the fans, despite already having busy schedules.

It does help that 1.4 billion people live in India so business execs probably have higher profit expectations. The thought crossed my mind if the Ocean cast did something similar we could see anime getting dubbed in Canada again, and for older complete unreleased dubs like this one to get out, like Ocean Kai but maybe not as only 41 million live in Canada.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Extremely smart marketing plan

I dont know why I am surprised, but I am. Very delicate, tactful, careful market research and planning was needed to succeed and this was amazing. If there is a name to respect in anime it is Ankur Javeri.

[Tian]

From what I've seen of the Hindi dub you do hear some English words here and there so if it was a mandela thing that could be one explanation.

That makes sense.

And thanks, I had no idea there was Hinglish in the Hindi dub. Yeah, that probably may have caused the confusion about a English Goku that sounded like Ankur.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I can now confirm at least one actor who had a role in this dub, if it existed - Koustuv Ghosh.

Ghosh played kid Gohan in the Hindi dub of Dragon Ball Z, so on one hand you'd think that could be the dub he was thinking of, but I specifically asked did he work on an English dub of the show, and he said he did. Having looked at his filmography every known production he's been in was Hindi voiced, but from what I read he is s native English speaker too.

Allegedly the Saban and Funimation inhouse dubs aired on Cartoon Network India's English feeds back in the day, and they received those materials (and the Kikuchi score oddly enough) for their dubs, so it does beg the question why not just use what they had? The same could apply to Billy & Mandy, which there was in fact an Indian English dub of, I've seen the promo and from what I hear it was either rerun recently or recordings are floating around.

I suspect if this other English dub of Dragon Ball Z did exist it was made because Cartoon Network India thought their audiences would prefer characters have native accents. It may have even been an experiment they did around the mid-2000s (as I've been told this rumoured Dragon Ball Z dub and Billy & Mandy were from the same time). If we can find confirmation any other shows we're dubbed into English around this time it may give credence to this idea.

Another possibility I've thought of, and it would depend on how true this is (but I've heard Indian fans say Cartoon Network India and Toonami were separate entities and the latter bought airtime from the former until 2015 when they could finally set up their own channel but the agreement lapsed in 2017) is Toonami bought the sublicense from Funimation and Cartoon Network India had to pay them royalties to use the US dub of Dragon Ball Z and creating their own English dub was a way of mitigating the costs of airing it.

Checked out one other interview with Javeri where he makes a comment, which could suggest this is true but is open to interpretation, and may refer to the cost of licensing anime in general:

Ankur Javeri wrote:

It seems anime used to be shown early on, on a Toonami slot on Cartoon Network, but maybe due to licensing or certain reasons it discontinued

So yeah, could be guesswork on his part, could be a sketchy memory, perhaps a bit of both. Voice Actors rarely, if ever know any more than the general audience about the legal or business side of these things anyway.

I've asked Ghosh a follow-up question about who he voiced and if he knows anyone else who was in this dub do hopefully I heat back soon. I'm guessing Gohan too, and aside from Ankur Javeri this dub used a lot of the same cast as the Hindi dub.

[eledoremassis02]

This is the one thing that keeps me coming here. Love hearing about these lost dubs and the quest to find them

[supershonen]

I can now confirm at least one actor who had a role in this dub, if it existed - Koustuv Ghosh.

Ghosh played kid Gohan in the Hindi dub of Dragon Ball Z, so on one hand you'd think that could be the dub he was thinking of, but I specifically asked did he work on an English dub of the show, and he said he did. Having looked at his filmography every known production he's been in was Hindi voiced, but from what I read he is s native English speaker too.

Allegedly the Saban and Funimation inhouse dubs aired on Cartoon Network India's English feeds back in the day, and they received those materials (and the Kikuchi score oddly enough) for their dubs, so it does beg the question why not just use what they had? The same could apply to Billy & Mandy, which there was in fact an Indian English dub of, I've seen the promo and from what I hear it was either rerun recently or recordings are floating around.

I suspect if this other English dub of Dragon Ball Z did exist it was made because Cartoon Network India thought their audiences would prefer characters have native accents. It may have even been an experiment they did around the mid-2000s (as I've been told this rumoured Dragon Ball Z dub and Billy & Mandy were from the same time). If we can find confirmation any other shows we're dubbed into English around this time it may give credence to this idea.

Another possibility I've thought of, and it would depend on how true this is (but I've heard Indian fans say Cartoon Network India and Toonami were separate entities and the latter bought airtime from the former until 2015 when they could finally set up their own channel but the agreement lapsed in 2017) is Toonami bought the sublicense from Funimation and Cartoon Network India had to pay them royalties to use the US dub of Dragon Ball Z and creating their own English dub was a way of mitigating the costs of airing it.

Checked out one other interview with Javeri where he makes a comment, which could suggest this is true but is open to interpretation, and may refer to the cost of licensing anime in general:

Ankur Javeri wrote:

It seems anime used to be shown early on, on a Toonami slot on Cartoon Network, but maybe due to licensing or certain reasons it discontinued

So yeah, could be guesswork on his part, could be a sketchy memory, perhaps a bit of both. Voice Actors rarely, if ever know any more than the general audience about the legal or business side of these things anyway.

I've asked Ghosh a follow-up question about who he voiced and if he knows anyone else who was in this dub do hopefully I heat back soon. I'm guessing Gohan too, and aside from Ankur Javeri this dub used a lot of the same cast as the Hindi dub.

HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIII

I remember my mum once told me, back in very early 2000s, that there are two channels one in eng and one in hindi (i mistakenly tuned into eng one and couldn't understand). This memory was dormant in my head it just popped now when i read this voice actor's comment about 2 feed. I am amazed how our brain works man everything is prolly stored in it we just can't access it.

[Tian]

I suspect if this other English dub of Dragon Ball Z did exist it was made because Cartoon Network India thought their audiences would prefer characters have native accents. It may have even been an experiment they did around the mid-2000s (as I've been told this rumoured Dragon Ball Z dub and Billy & Mandy were from the same time). If we can find confirmation any other shows we're dubbed into English around this time it may give credence to this idea.

That reminds me of something...
Back in 2004, Pakistan got
its own feed of Cartoon Network which initially aired its programming in Hindi.

But a year later, the PEMRA (The Pakistani equivalent of FCC) issued an order to ban channels because either they were operated from India or aired content in Hindi.
This forced that Cartoon Network feed to switch from Hindi to English.

My guess is that this forced switch to English could also have been another factor of the experiment you mentioned.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

This is the one thing that keeps me coming here. Love hearing about these lost dubs and the quest to find them

Yeah, sadly even if this dub exists finding it is still a long shot considering how long it's been and how little notice, if any, fans have taken of it.

I remember my mum once told me, back in very early 2000s, that there are two channels one in eng and one in hindi (i mistakenly tuned into eng one and couldn't understand). This memory was dormant in my head it just popped now when i read this voice actor's comment about 2 feed. I am amazed how our brain works man everything is prolly stored in it we just can't access it.

Yeah, as I understand it Cartoon Network India has always had an English feed. Whether or not they aired an Indian English dub of Dragon Ball remains to be seem, but as crazy as it sounds its not impossible.

Fans were not aware of the Animax dub for many years. In fact in the first dedicated thread about it here fans were legit shocked they never heard of it. Likewise fans were dubious about the Canadian-French dub, which turned out to be real, so never rule anything out when it comes to dubs.

Back in 2004, Pakistan got
its own feed of Cartoon Network which initially aired its programming in Hindi.

But a year later, the PEMRA (The Pakistani equivalent of FCC) issued an order to ban channels because either they were operated from India or aired content in Hindi.
This forced that Cartoon Network feed to switch from Hindi to English.

Oh that's interesting. From what I've been told Fact theories said the original Hindi dub of Kai was made for Cartoon Network Pakistan, not India. Both channels have the same owner, so I wonder if some loophole was exploited to allow Kai to air in Hindi in Pakistan as Indians over at ToonWorld4All also said Kai never aired in India until 2023.

I also gather that Cartoon Network Pakistan has generally aired English dubs. The Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z aired on their Toonami in the late 2000s, it was only on the last day of 2022 they began airing Super with an Urdu dub, which is the only time to my knowledge anything Dragon Ball has been dubbed in the language, unless anyone can come forward with Cinemachi Kids recordings to prove otherwise, but from what I've been told that channel also aired the Funimation dub, and KidZone has still yet to air Dragon Ball Z.