Interview: Resul Pookutty, Oscar Awardee, Best Sound Mixing article

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Resul Pookutty has arrived big time in the world of cinema, with the Oscar win. He understands the significance of the Oscar win - "because it has immense popular appeal" - but at a personal level, he values the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) award for Slumdog Millionaire much more, simply because it is given out by his peers, the best 500 sound technicians of the world. Pookutty, who has worked in quite a few important Indian films till now, speaks his heart out:

Now the Oscar, after the BAFTA and CAS. What's on your mind?

RP: For me winning a nomination in a technical category like sound itself is a great achievement as we are usually never given the opportunity to prove our mettle. Suddenly that has changed - and it's a welcome change. The nomination itself was Oscar won for me.

When you first read the Slumdog script, did you ever imagine it would become so big?

RP: When we begun discussing - mind you, this is a small, $12 million-budget film in international standards - I did not have any idea. But when we began working I realized that it was a technologically-challenging film. We faced challenges everyday. But I never imagined in my wildest dreams that this film will be such a wild success.

How did you prepare for and approach the project?

RP: Danny (Boyle) had met me seven months before shoot, when I was working on (Sanjay Leela Bhansali's) Saawariya and he had already done research on me. He asked me which of my films he should watch to understand my work. I told him that he could pick up any film. He then gave me the script; I read it and had a couple of more meetings with him. My first reaction was like, ‘˜Danny this is a full on Hindi film'. It was completely unlike what he'd done before. He had studied our films and followed that path in making Slumdog Millionaire. I have great respect for that man. If we do a film in England on a subject that is of that country, I don't know if we can do that much justice. One week into the shoot, I found this was not an easy film to shoot. I had to totally reinvent myself as it was technically a very difficult film. Being a technician, you reach a level of sophistication with time, but I realized if I approach it through the conventional way of recording sound, it won't work. So I decided to record the soundscape of the city of Mumbai, not merely record the sound. Because I had taken that decision, I had to use a different mindset, and this made my life very difficult. Many a time I had to think in terms of how human perceptions work, and stimulate those things through multi-track recording, which was required in a project of this kind.

How was the experience of working with international co-workers like Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke (Oscar co-winners for Sound Mixing)?

RP: I have worked with international mixers earlier, so I knew how they work. Unfortunately in this film, I could not sit through the mixing process and did only the location sound.

What was your reaction when you watched the film for the first time?

RP: When Danny showed me the first cut, I realized this was going to be something like ‘˜City of God'. I thought this was going to be a very special film, but never imagined it would become so big. It has been accepted by critics, awards and audiences. In that sense I feel very happy.

BAFTA, CAS, Oscar...which has given you the maximum sense of achievement?

RP: CAS (Cinema Audio Society) is much bigger than anything else for me as it is given by the community of our kind of people - the sound technicians. On a professional level, CAS is the ultimate win. When the CAS nomination came, I was trying to tell the journalists that there are only 500 members of this exclusive society and this was professionally so important, but nobody even responded. But the moment the Oscar nomination came in, people started chasing me.

So, in the popular sense the Oscar is an important win as that is what has the work of my kind of person to the people.

After this, any more professional honors you would aspire for?

RP: I long for a national award.

You have said earlier that Gandhi My Father has been your most satisfying work...

RP: Sound is about doing a lot of work. For example, in an action film like Ghazini, it was all about putting so much sound together to give a larger than life experience. For me, the sensibility of an artiste is also what he should not do. In GMF, I knew I am dealing with a huge responsibility - it was on a man whose philosophy had been simplicity and truthfulness - so I cannot put a soundtrack like that in Musafir and Ghazini. I took a conscious decision of not manipulating audience feelings. I was very truthful and genuine. It was like what we know Bergman's frame for - for taking exactly what is required to be in the frame.

Would the sense of achievement have been a bit more if you had won the honor for an Indian film, done by an Indian?

RP: Yes, of course you feel it, because you want to make your country proud. But unfortunately there are internationally-known Indian filmmakers who do not use people like me. A Danny Boyle and a Christian Colson come from England to give me and A R Rahman the work. There are filmmakers like Shekhar Kapur, Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair who are equally successful filmmakers - but they have not given people like me the opportunity. Danny wanted a sound man and a musician from here - it's' their conviction, (which) our people don't' have. The joy would definitely have been 100 times more if I had achieved something like this in an Indian film - and this I say without in any way diminishing what Danny and Christian have done.

Any more international projects in the pipeline?

RP: There are a couple of offers, which I am discussing. I am in the process of appointing an agent in Hollywood. But I am not interested in doing small films there. I am doing a combination work here - of mainstream and small, independent films - which suits me fine. I am more interested in doing work here and taking it there.

You are yet to work in a film in your mother tongue, Malayalam. How much interest you have in doing work in regional cinema?

RP: Nobody has called me from Kerala as yet. It's a small industry. But I am open to working in regional cinema. I am already doing a Marathi film which has a fantastic script. It is being directed by Jayprad Desai, and is a very good-intentioned film. I am lucky to be working with such young people who have the spark of truth and genuineness.