The Malayalam version of Don't Trouble the Trouble, the fantasy drama starring Fahadh Faasil, was finished with AI lip-sync, according to a customer story published by sync. labs. The company says it visually dubbed about 800 shots for the Malayalam cut between September 18 and September 29, about 10 days of work as sync. puts it, ahead of the film's October 2 theatrical release. Netflix's synopsis describes Fahadh's Suri as a small-time crook whose life changes when he meets a young girl with magic powers.
sync. labs shared the work on X, writing: "not a demo. not a clip. a full feature film, shot in Telugu, lip-synced into Malayalam, now streaming on Netflix. powered by sync. labs."
@synclabs on XView post on X →
Visual dubbing vs regular dubbing
In a regular dub, new dialogue in another language is laid over the original picture, so the lips still move to the language the film was shot in.
Visual dubbing changes the picture too. According to sync. labs, the production supplied the Malayalam dub, and the company's job was to adapt the visible speech in the original Telugu footage to match that dialogue. sync. labs says the aim was to keep the performances grounded in the takes the director had already chosen.
AI lip-sync on Don't Trouble the Trouble: key details
- Film: Don't Trouble the Trouble
- Director: Shashank Yeleti (credited by sync. labs)
- Producers: Arka Media Works and Showing Business, presented by S. S. Rajamouli (credited by sync. labs)
- Original language: Telugu (Netflix)
- Visual dubbing: Malayalam version, by sync. labs
- Shots dubbed: About 800, around 100 of them complex (per sync. labs)
- Work window: September 18 to 29, 2026 (per sync. labs)
- Runtime: 2h 45m (per sync. labs)
- Theatrical release: October 2, 2026 (per sync. labs)
- Streaming: Netflix, audio in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam (Netflix); streaming since October 30, per sync. labs and our earlier report
How the work played out, according to sync. labs
sync. labs says it began on September 18 and worked alongside the production team as footage and dialogue updates came in, handling the lip-sync, shot review and VFX finishing. The production team estimated that around 100 shots were particularly complex, the company says, and review went down to individual words. When updated Malayalam dialogue arrived for a trailer shot on September 21, the team checked mouth shapes and refined the shot before approval, the company says. We have only sync. labs' account of these numbers and dates; neither the producers nor Netflix has published them.
Finishing work included 4K image sequences on September 28, and delivery packages went out on September 29, three days before the film opened, according to the company.
The film is now on Netflix, and Indian Express Malayalam listed it among the week's new OTT releases, alongside Vijay Sethupathi's Baththa.
What this means for dubbed releases in Kerala
Kerala audiences watch a steady stream of dubbed films, in theatres and on OTT. Recent Netflix titles such as Dhoomakethu have arrived in five languages at once, and Telugu films like The Paradise are regularly brought to Kerala screens.
If visual dubbing can be done on a full feature in about 10 days, as sync. labs claims, producers may start treating the Malayalam version as more than an audio track. Matching lips can make a dub feel natural, but some viewers may want to know when a performance has been altered by AI. We have not seen a statement from Arka Media Works or Netflix on the process yet, and will update this story if either responds.
