Obsession, the Hollywood horror film that turned a tiny budget into a worldwide box office story, is now getting a Hindi-language lift from Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon.
A small budget, a $500M global result
Curry Barker’s Obsession arrives on JioHotstar on October 30 in Hindi and in its original English version, through the platform’s Peacock Hub. The film stars Inde Navarrette as Nikki and Michael Johnston as Bear.
The numbers tell the story. Obsession was reportedly made for around $750,000 and went on to gross more than $500 million worldwide, a rare multiple that has helped the title travel beyond its home market. On screen, it follows Bear, a shy young man who uses a mysterious object called the One Wish Willow to make his longtime crush Nikki fall in love with him. The wish goes dark when Nikki becomes dangerously obsessed with him, triggering a chain of terrifying events.
Who voices whom in Hindi
For the Hindi dub, Sanon voices Nikki and Dhawan voices Bear. The pair previously worked together on the 2022 horror comedy Bhediya, and both described dubbing as a different way of getting inside the film.
- Kriti Sanon said she had never explored a character this edgy before, and that this was her first time lending her voice to another actor’s performance.
- Varun Dhawan said working closely on the Hindi version let him notice details he might have missed on a first viewing.
- Release note: the Hindi and English versions premiere together on October 30.
Why star-led dubbing stands out
Hollywood dubs in India usually feature professional voice artists, so putting two mainstream Bollywood actors into the same film is a statement. Alok Jain, head of Hindi and English entertainment business at JioStar, called it a way to widen the audience, pointing to the actors’ “strong cross-generational appeal” and their comfort with horror.
For fans, the hook is immediate: a global horror hit told through voices they already know from Bhediya and bigger Bollywood parts. Sanon described the story as “gripping, quirky and twisted”, while Dhawan said the recording room gave him “a completely different perspective.”
The day-and-date release also makes it easy to compare the original and the Hindi version in one sitting, something JioHotstar is clearly counting on to bring the title to Hindi-speaking viewers who may not have seen the English run.
Source: The Hindu