Japanese Subtitles of Hindi Lyrics: A Case Study of a Song from PadMan

Songs are an intrinsic part of Hindi films. Hindi songs can be blasted everywhere in films and real life, whether on television or FM radio, at a wedding ceremony, or at an anniversary function. It is not only limited to the occasions but also moods. There is a song for every emotion and every occasion present in Hindi films. As Hindi films are gaining popularity in Japan, paying attention to their language transfer becomes essential. Songs play a significant part in Hindi films. This research paper has taken four songs from the Hindi film ‘PadMan’ as a case study. This research focuses on examining the challenges of subtitling Hindi songs into Japanese. It also tries to deduce a pattern in subtitling the challenging song elements.