Resul Pookutty is an Indian film sound designer, sound editor and mixer. He, along with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for the film Slumdog Millionaire. He has worked in Hollywood, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films.
Background
Born in a family in Vilakkupara, near Punalur about 58 km from Kollam, Kerala. He was the youngest of eight children born to an impoverished family. His father was a private bus ticket checker. Pookutty had to walk 6 km to the nearest school and study in the light of a kerosene lamp as his village had no electricity.
He pursued a career in law from Govt. Law college Trivandrum. However he was unable to complete it. He is a 1995 graduate from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. And later in 2011 June he wrote the remaining LLB exam papers at trivandrum Govt. law college. And he said that it was Resul's father's desire to make him an advocate.
Career
Pookutty moved to Mumbai after his graduation. He termed it as "a natural immigration as a graduate of the institute." He pointed out that "Ninety-five per cent of the technicians of the Mumbai film industry are alumni of FTII, Pune." Pookutty made his debut in sound design with the 1997 film Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One, directed by Rajat Kapoor. He got his big break with the critically acclaimed 2005 film Black, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He subsequently engineered sound for major productions like Musafir in 2004, Zinda in 2006, Traffic Signal in 2007, Gandhi, My Father in 2007, Saawariya in 2007 and Dus Kahaniyaan in 2007.
He designed sound for the 2008 blockbuster Ghajini, starring Aamir Khan and directed by Murugadoss . His first major international project Slumdog Millionaire won him an Academy award. His work on the film also won him nation-wide acclaim.
In 2012, Resul co-produced and designed the sound for the film I.D. which was directed by Kamal K. M. under the banner of Collective Phase One. The film won critical acclaim and was screened in a number of film festivals around the world.