Renowned Subtitlist Rekha Upset As "2.0" Film Team Has Not Paid Her Yet

One of the best renowned Chennai based subtitlist Rekha, who has worked on many of the south Indian films, alleges that team 2.0 hasn’t cleared her dues yet.

Talking to Indian Express, she said, “I haven’t received a single penny. It has been nearly two weeks since I tweeted out this. I made a lot of calls to Lyca Productions, but my repeated efforts were in vain”.

Rekha adds her “intention isn’t to bring anybody down.” At the same time, she has “high regards for Shankar and Superstar, and doesn’t hold them responsible.”

Rekha elaborates, “They both have nothing to do with this and only the production house is liable. I did subtitling for 2.0 in good faith, and I’m thoroughly disappointed with Lyca’s unprofessional attitude. The film was released in November, last year. I gave them almost 10 months to settle my payments. They neither responded to calls nor emails.”

Also, Rekha on Twitter had posted that she had the same issue with Sun Pictures.

“What happened with 2.0 isn’t a one-off occurrence. I had faced similar situations with renowned actors and directors. Truth be told, many people deal with the same problem. But they don’t want to speak out. They are scared of being cornered in the future. I want to fight as it’s not fair to not be paid for the work I did. 2.0 made more than Rs 50 crore overseas and my payment isn’t even 0.001% of that money,” she rues, adding, “Even for Enthiran, my husband went to their office and requested them to sort out the dues.”

“I improved my English communication skills and reading skills by watching another language movie with subtitles and it helped me 100%. I knew the importance of subtitles. Sad to see no mercy for such people. If this is true her issue has to be sorted out. More than anything else she is just asking for the money she has to be paid for her work. A big company who continue in production of movies should not find difficult to settle her payment”.

“She should be paid ASAP at any cost!! Didn't expect this from Lyca!! Film success or failure should not impact the technicians who worked on it as they make living out of the salary offered!”, her tweet reads.

Rekha stresses on the importance of subtitling that helps a film attract a global audience. “My team and I work from 6 am to 2 pm without a break. I’ve been in the industry for a decade and what’s happening is quite unfortunate.”

Among those who supported Rekha was Melanie Greenberg, a YouTuber. The subtitlist had forwarded a message of Melanie that read: “Rekhs is the best subtitlist in Indian cinema. I never feel left out of a joke because she finds an English phrase that makes me laugh. I’m unable to believe that she and her team haven’t been paid for an international blockbuster.”

Why did she not approach Rajinikanth directly? “I don’t think it’s professional and a nice thing to do,” she says.

2.0 is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film. Written and directed by S. Shankar. Produced by Subaskaran under the banner of Lyca Productions. As the second instalment in the Enthiran franchise, 2.0 is a standalone sequel to Enthiran (2010), featuring Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson.