Alka Amarkant Dubey

Alka Amarkant Dubey is a voice artist in the Indian film and entertainment industry. With his excellent voice modulation skills, Amarkant has given life to many characters in TV shows and also hosted some of the best programmes on Vividh Bharti Radio. Amarkant comes from Jabalpur, a city located along the banks of river Narmada in Madhya Pradesh. Living in a time when radio was the only means of mass communication, Amarkant realized he had a melodious voice well in his childhood and would often impersonate radio jockeys. When he was around 12 years old, he would read aloud signboards and banners of his neighbourhood, pretending to be a radio jockey himself. Probably, that’s where his story was written! While in school and college, Amarkant often participated in public speaking campaigns and was always able to amaze the listeners with his voice. But even then, he never realized the effect his voice seemed to have over the audience.

Acting on television and becoming a voice artist was not what Amarkant had aspired to become one day. Instead, in the beginning, he had opted for a completely different career. He worked in a bank, audited in a government office, and worked as a hotel manager. He auditioned as an announcer for Vividh Bharti only when he first came to Mumbai in 1988. And as destiny had it, he was selected! Coming from a family of scholars, Amarkant's family wasn't rejoiced when he mentioned that he worked at a radio station. But eventually, they started appreciating his work and even commended him on his marvellous voice. While in Vividh Bharti, Amarkant hosted two renowned shows- Jigyasa and Chitradhwani. He even wrote jingles for several commercials at that time. Amarkant hadn’t planned on becoming an actor. He happened to be at the right place at the right time. And the rest was all his hard work and determination to give his best.

His first excursion in the industry as an actor was when he worked in the Zee TV serial Campus. Later, he acted alongside Sudheer Pandey in the TV serial Amanat. Amarkant is also known for playing the character of the old, jolly-natured, wise cook Baba Dilbagh in the show Ziddi Dil Maane Na. In 2013, he did the voice direction for the animated cartoon movie Chhota Bheem In Junglee Kabila. Later in 2014, he contributed to another animated film Mighty Raju Rio Calling. Artists like Amarkant Dubey are an inspiration for the budding artists in the industry. Everybody can speak on stage but keeping your audience hooked till the ending is an art, and Amarkant was a master in it. Maybe that is why when he started working in the radio, he gained a massive following of listeners very quickly. The era of radios may not return, but Amarkant’s morning broadcast at that time would somewhere still remain as many people’s favorite part of the day!