Spirited away into another world

Ali Fazal

With barely 10 days to go before the year ends, we're all looking forward to a new beginning. Ali Fazal has already made his. In a first in his 14-year career, the actor lent his voice to an anime series, Solo Leveling. The experience has made the child in him happy, who grew up on noted Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's animated movies. "While growing up, I was aware of Hayao Miyazaki's work. I've been a big fan of Spirited Away [2001], and was exposed to Dragon Ball," he says.

A still from Solo Leveling

Solo Leveling revolves around a weak hunter, Sung Jinwoo, in a world where human warriors with supernatural abilities have to battle deadly monsters to protect mankind. In the Hindi adaptation, Fazal has lent his voice to the character of Song Chiyul, a Korean hunter who takes Jinwoo under his wing and teaches him Kumdo, a Korean martial art form. The actor says he came on board as soon as he was offered the project. "I got to know exactly what the show and my character were about [after I ventured] into it. We hashed it out. Now, there is a large audience in India following anime. As producers, we're also getting into a version of animation. It is interesting to see the world getting smaller, making us able to share notes on this stage."

Sitting in the recording booth and diving into the fantasy world of the Korean webtoon, which will stream on Crunchyroll, was an immersive experience for Fazal. "You and I would probably watch these anime in their original languages with subtitles, but there is a huge audience for the dubbed version. To reach them, we sometimes use [chaste] Hindi."