Who is Resul Pookutty?

Resul Pookutty, 49, is a sound designer and sound editor who shot to fame after winning an Oscar for ‘Best sound mixing’ for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. The musician’s life is the story of perseverance, of success despite odds.

Pookutty, the youngest of ten children, was born in Kerala’s Kollam and had a very humble childhood. School meant walking 6 km one way, a trek, he later said, he loved.”Childhood was fun with no pressures,” Pookutty said of that time.

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After gaining a bachelor’s degree in physics, Pookutty, in keeping with his bus conductor father’s wishes, enrolled for a law degree.

But fate had other things in store for him. He dropped the law course and instead joined the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. But his desire to fulfill his father’s wish made him re join the law course which he then completed.

After the Pine film institute degree, the natural destination from him was the film world. He moved to Mumbai, and made his debut in sound design with the 1997 film Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One, directed by Rajat Kapoor.

His big break came when Sanjay Leela Bhansali signed fim for Black. He went on to work on major projects like Gandhi, My Father (2007), Saawariya (2007), Dus Kahaniyaan and Enthiran.

His biggest moment was when filmmaker Danny Boyle approached him for Slumdog Millionaire. But it was not a bed of roses. About the Oscar-winning film, Pookutty later said he had many frustrating moments during his Hollywood debut as he felt that ‘he was not getting due importance’. But it was perseverance that finally paid and  he walked off with the highest film honour, sharing it with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp.

Soon after the success of Slumdog Millionaire, Pookutty spoke of the ‘Oscar curse’. He said that he struggled to get work after the Academy Award high.  But, Indian film industries did warm up to him soon enough and  he worked on mega projects in Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam languages in addition to British films.

Among the projects he worked on are Ghajini, PK,  Ra.One, Manto, Gulab Gang, Margarita with a Straw, Enthiran (Tamil), Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (Malayalam), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (English), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The musician recently joined Telugu filmmaker Sukumar’s Allu Arjun.

Pookutty is married to Shadia. They have a son Rayaan and a daughter, Salna.