This Article is From Nov 27, 2010

Oscar winner Resul Pookutty dreamt of Nobel prize

Oscar winner Resul Pookutty dreamt of Nobel prize

Highlights

  • Sound technician Resul Pookutty was fascinated with physics as a child and dreamt of winning a Nobel Prize but ended up bagging an Oscar for his work in Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire".
  • "I wanted to be a physicist and win a Nobel for India, but I ended up winning an Oscar instead. I'm just as happy," Pookutty said during his master class on 'Art of Sound and Music' at IFFI here.
  • "When I came into this field, I realized that sound engineering was not so much engineering but a craft. We choose every sound very carefully because we want the audience to hear what we wanted them to," Pookutty said.
  • Pookutty said that it was Boyle, who inspired him to go beyond the boundaries and experiment with new sounds in the movie, which won eight Oscars including two for musician A R Rahman.
  • "During the riot scene in 'Slumdog Millionaire', Danny came to me and said that he wanted to hear the sound when Jamaal comes out of the water. He was the first director who visualized the sound because not many directors care about it even though they are great with the camera," said Pookutty.
  • When asked to name the most important element of sound in cinema by filmmaker Goving Nihalani, who was in the audience, Pookutty promptly replied "silence".
  • "Silence is the most important element in sound and how we use it can create a different impact. I learnt the effective use of silence from Govindji, he was one of the pioneers of it and he is a great cameraman.
  • "I remember that in the climax of 'Ghajini' I convinced both the director and Aamir to make certain scenes soundless. But silence is not without sound, we use certain sounds to convey the feeling of silence," said Pookutty.
Panaji: Sound technician Resul Pookutty was fascinated with physics as a child and dreamt of winning a Nobel Prize but ended up bagging an Oscar for his work in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.

"I wanted to be a physicist and win a Nobel for India, but I ended up winning an Oscar instead. I'm just as happy," Pookutty said during his master class on 'Art of Sound and Music' at IFFI here.

"When I came into this field, I realized that sound engineering was not so much engineering but a craft. We choose every sound very carefully because we want the audience to hear what we wanted them to," Pookutty said.


Pookutty said that it was Boyle, who inspired him to go beyond the boundaries and experiment with new sounds in the movie, which won eight Oscars including two for musician A R Rahman.

"During the riot scene in 'Slumdog Millionaire', Danny came to me and said that he wanted to hear the sound when Jamaal comes out of the water. He was the first director who visualized the sound because not many directors care about it even though they are great with the camera," said Pookutty.

When asked to name the most important element of sound in cinema by filmmaker Goving Nihalani, who was in the audience, Pookutty promptly replied "silence".

"Silence is the most important element in sound and how we use it can create a different impact. I learnt the effective use of silence from Govindji, he was one of the pioneers of it and he is a great cameraman.

"I remember that in the climax of 'Ghajini' I convinced both the director and Aamir to make certain scenes soundless. But silence is not without sound, we use certain sounds to convey the feeling of silence," said Pookutty. 
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