An unsung hero!
ZIYA US SALAM
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While the whole world is going ga-ga about A.R. Rahman, another Oscar winner, Resul Pookutty, barely gets noticed
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I learnt a lot of technical aspects and Indian music through The Hindu’s Friday Review.
Standing ovation Resul Pookutty: ‘I feel I have achieved all that there is to achieve in my field’
Resul Pookutty might just bring glad tidings to a nation starved of real-life heroes. The sound mix maestro from Kerala, who calls Mumbai his home, is just back home after heady days in Los Angeles, where in his finest hour, Resul did not forget his motherland. But Resul, who became not only the first Indian, but the first Asian to get the sound mixing award, has only had cold vibes back home.
The popular Oscar and the Cine Audio Society Award are under his belt. But old prejudices refuse to fade in the life and times of Resul Pookutty. Just the other day, a popular film awards function did not even invite him!
A man of measured words Resul is a shade disappointed. “What I have won is not just an Oscar. A little before the Oscars I got the Cine Audio Society Award for excellence in sound. It is the highest award in my category. I feel I have achieved all that there is to achieve in my field. Now if I do quality work, some great work, I can only add to my tally of Oscars, Bafta, CAS, etc. God willing that might be possible.”
Attitude of Bollywood
What he didn’t really expect though, was the attitude of the Hindi film industry. “I have won an Oscar for the country. Nobody had even won an Oscar for technical expertise from Asia over the past 80 years. In Los Angeles I got a standing ovation, but in my own (Hindi) film industry, where I have worked for the last 14 years, people did not even bother to call me. Soon after the Oscars, I got SMSs and phone calls from Mohanlal and Mammootty, besides a number of luminaries from Malayalam cinema, even though I have not worked on a single film there for long. In Mumbai, only Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan were the ones to acknowledge my feat. Bachchan was kind enough to send me a bouquet. Otherwise, beyond people like Saurabh Shukla and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, with whom I have worked, nobody bothered.”
The man is obviously hurt. Says Resul, “It is an attitudinal problem. We are caught up in caste, colour, and creed politics. We are still not an open society. We are governed by creed and greed, religion and region.”
Resul works with a passion that is unique in an industry where everybody is governed by a herd mentality. “I have worked with so many different directors, each with his own sensibility. You cannot compare one genre with another. Adoor Gopalakrishnan gave me my schooling in cinema. I was awed by the way Adoor used sound in cinema. Bhansali was the route I took to get across to a wider audience. And Danny Boyle brought a different sensibility, a different work ethic,” says Resul.Big B has worked with him in ‘Black’ and was so impressed by what he heard that he told journalists to keep an eye on Resul in the run-up to the Oscars. “He is a generous man. He was the first man from the industry to congratulate me,” says Resul.
Resul drew the world’s attention to ‘Om’ with his very first words after winning the Oscar award. “No. It was not a prepared statement. Being a sound man from India, I naturally referred to ‘Om’. I had not rehearsed it. It came naturally from the heart. That is the word, the expression, the feeling you grow up with in our country.”
The prejudices
Through with all the major awards that the world has to offer, and a bit saddened by the prejudices back home, how does Resul look at the future?
“First of all, let me clarify. Not all popular awards and media houses work the same way. I might not have got an invite for the Filmfare awards after the Oscars, but I have also learnt a lot through our media, papers and channels. I used to read The Hindu when I was trying to break into the field. I learnt a lot of technical aspects and Indian music through The Hindu’s Friday Review. But yes, these days, newspapers have more space for other things. Everything is governed by the market forces. For instance, at Filmfare they played Rahman’s songs, and invited him too. They probably can sell a few more copies with Rahman and popular film stars than a technician, even if he has won an Oscar. It is a bit bad for me because I work from my heart. But nothing is wrong with my heart or head. Or yours. It is these guys who have a problem.”
So, is he saying good bye to Hindi cinema? “Far from it. I will always do it. I have not worked in Kerala for long though. I would like to direct a Malayalam film. I have been in Mumbai for 14 years. These are my own people. I will work here. In future I am going to work on more international projects. I have got offers already but I have told my managers I will work on international projects out of Mumbai. I am an Indian. I will work from India. I belong here.”
And Resul belongs to all of us. Bring on the sounds of India.
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Chennai and Tamil Nadu
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