d = {'hours':50}
n = '{hours:02} часов'.format(**d)
n
#'50 \xd1\x87\xd0\xb0\xd1\x81\xd0\xbe\xd0\xb2'
print n
#50 часов
n.decode('utf-8', 'ignore')
#u'50 \u0447\u0430\u0441\u043e\u0432'
u'{hours:02} часов'
In [1]: d = {'hours':50}
In [2]: n = '{hours:02} часов'.format(**d)
In [3]: n
Out[3]: '50 \xd1\x87\xd0\xb0\xd1\x81\xd0\xbe\xd0\xb2'
In [4]: n = u'{hours:02} часов'.format(**d)
In [5]: n
Out[5]: u'50 \u0447\u0430\u0441\u043e\u0432'
In [6]: print(n)
50 часов