Resul Pookutty

Calcutta, Jan. 23: Almost every Indian knows one R behind Slumdog’s millions, not the other R.

If A.R. Rahman’s music feels so good in Slumdog Millionaire, part of the credit goes to sound designer Resul Pookutty. He decided the sound scheme of the film — the amount of music, the silence, the effects.

With Rahman and lyricist Gulzar, Resul now holds the India baton at the Oscars, having been nominated for best sound mixing with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.

“I feel like I am on top of the world…. The Oscar nominations have truly put us on the world map,” Resul told The Telegraph from Mumbai.

An audiography graduate (1995) from the Film and Television Institute of India, Resul started his Hindi film journey with Rajat Kapoor’s little-known film Private Detective (1997), which had Irrfan Khan in the cast. Irrfan is also part of the Slumdog cast.

Thereafter, Resul became a mainstay of parallel Hinglish films, designing sounds for Split Wide Open, Snip and Everybody Says I’m Fine.

Bollywood recognised the talent later. Black in 2005 was the turning point with Resul’s work standing out in the song-less film. Bluffmaster!, Gandhi My Father and Saawariya followed.

The last two films got him noticed by Slumdog director Danny Boyle and company when they came to Mumbai in November 2007.

“Gandhi My Father was my most challenging film, trying to make the voice of Gandhi age through the years,” says the 36-year-old from Kollam district in Kerala.

“Demanding” is how Aamir Khan describes his Ghajini sound designer.

Interestingly, Resul was not taken in as the sound designer for Slumdog. He was to be the mixer — who makes sound levels uniform and ensures that the final output is a cohesive piece with the right importance given to each of its constituents.

According to a technician, a mixer comes in at the final stages and is responsible for the overall sound output. He adjusts the levels of each and every sound effect that has been edited (by the sound editor) to ensure that it comes out exactly at the desired amplitude. The mixer also works on effects such as reverbs, echoes and pans.

“It’s not easy to understand the work of a sound mixer because you only notice sound when it’s either too loud or too low,” says Resul.

In Slumdog, his challenge was to merge the sounds that create the ambience of the Dharavi slums with Rahman’s pulsating music and the dialogues so that they all came together as one cohesive piece. The scenes where the police constable chases the kids or the riots display Resul’s mastery.

Not just the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Resul has been honoured with nominations at the BAFTA Awards and the California-based Cinema Audio Society Awards. He plans to attend all three ceremonies. We hope he wins at all three.