In sync with Resul Pookutty, the Master of Sound

Tuesday  (Jan 12, 2016) morning turned out to be a memorable day in my life as I happened to re-connect with my long lost friend (no Soulmate!) Resul Pookutty after a gap of two decades at the lobby of Marriot Hotel, near Cochin Intl Airport.  We spent over 40 minutes reviving old memories and reviving thoughts about various things including films, family and living in general.


Resul repeatedly asked me, “Why you didn’t contact me all these years. As a celebrity it wouldn’t have been difficult to get in touch with me -isn’t it true that you didn’t.”  Seeing my confused look and my statement  that everything has its own time to happen, he added “ I did try but somehow couldn’t connect and all these years I have been looking for you and didn’t know whom to ask”  Interestingly, those close to me following the development  including my wife Aswathy said I appear like the character Barber Balan played by veteran actor and director Srinivasan in the movie Katha Parayumbol !

I put the picture of our re-union in FaceBook the same day and there was quick response from friends and acquaintances some curious to know about our friendship and others who were surprised to know about my interest in foraying into film industry through film editing from Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune.

Now the Flashback
Some time in December of 1990, one fine morning I boarded the Kanyakumari –Mumbai train in sleeper class to Pune with the aim of trying my luck in film editing at FTII. I was among several aspirants travelling in the same train in different compartments having cleared the written test and had to appear for a week’s orientation programme, write tests again and appear for interview. The selection was based on our cumulative performance assessed after the interview.

The aspirants in other compartments were Resul Pookutty whom most of you might have heard of only after he became a celebrity. Then there was Suresh Pai, now a veteran award winning film editor in Mumbai, Sriram Kothandaraman (Cinematographer), Mahesh (Director), Vinod from School of Drama  and few others who boarded from different parts of Kerala. I met Resul only in Pune railway station and instantly liked his humor and ability to establish rapport very easily.

Thereafter, for the next one week, Resul was the person who made our days and nights eventful with his delightful jokes and pranks he played on others in the hostel. But it was very evident after a few days that most of us wouldn’t make it to FTII as several experienced people trying for second and third time were there and performing well in group discussions and tests. For the interview, I remember  veteran director, K G George was a member o f the panel. Then there was the head of Film Editing Department Mr Rao and John Sankaramangalam, film director and dean of FTII. George asked me why I wanted to become a film editor. I said I read about many films rescued at the editing table including Chemeen and the vital role I could play in helping create good movies and documentaries. At that time I had already joined for journalism course at Kerala University and George felt I would be better off continuing there as my core skill seemed to be in writing but having no exposure to drama or films. He said if I felt the urge to do films, I could try next year. My analytical depth of classical films was also not commendable, George said.

Most of the first time aspirants returned in a bus to Mangalore having failed to gain entry and thereafter some of us boarded the Parasuram express to Thiruvannthapuram. But the now popular cinematographer of Bollywood Santosh Thundiyil from Chenganachery (or Chengannur) gained entry that year and I think it was his second or third attempt. He was a very jovial character but I couldn't get close to him as much as I did with Suresh Pai, Raman and Pookutty. I remember meeting him later on in one or two film festivals.

Resul also didn’t fare well in the interview and tests and went back to continue his LLB course at Govt Law College, Thiruvananthapuram and I continued with my journalism programme. Resul and Sriram Kothandaraman were determined to work hard and get into FTII next year. They went to libraries to read books on films, literature, never missed film festivals and kept preparing for their eventual entry into an institution that would catapult them to fame. Suresh Pai also attempted next year and got entry into film editing.

Resul was staying in the Law College hostel which was close to my house. And in the evenings when I felt bored I would walk to his hostel and find other friends like Sriram with him and we may go for a walk, have tea and snacks and talk about films or crack jokes.  With Resul around there was no scarcity for it. Sometimes, Resul came to my house and spend some time- he was I think amazed by the books I read – classical and modern fiction, current affairs, philosophy- Rajaneesh and also much talked about writers such as Kushwant Singh and Shobha De. I also had latest magazines taken from the library –Economist, Time, Newsweek which he used to glance through.

He said every time he meets Shobha De he remembers me because he heard about her books and writings for the first time from me.

We celebrated the entry in the second attempt by Resul, Sriram and Suresh Pai and they used to keep in touch ocasionally through letters or phone throughout their tenure at FTII. I remember while in his last year at FTII, Resul came for a break and badly wanted to meet Krishnan Unni , veteran sound recordist at Chitranjali Studio and I think he met him. Once, he jokingly said in the presence of Sriram– we are struggling now, it’s not easy to get assignments in Mumbai but one day you will write about us!

The other day when we met, he asked, “ Why you haven’t written about me so far?”. I am fulfilling that task now.

In journalism , since 1993 I had to struggle to get my first break and succeeded only in 1995 in The Financial Express. Till then I was mostly doing freelancing and worked for around eight months with Balarama Creative Unit in Kottayam where the greatest achievement was the rapport I established with late N M Mohanan, the visionary editor who was behind the success of both Poompata and Balarama. His characters Luttapi and Mayavi are now the favourite of every child.

In parallel, as I was struggling to get good media jobs, Resul, Sriram and others were struggling it out in Mumbai having no films to work on. Suresh Pai was their solace as he worked for a TV channel as editor and earned some money. I came to know of these developments through common friends in Mumbai and once or twice before my marriage in 1997, I remember meeting Resul a few times in Thiruvananthapuram . I forgot to invite any of the FTII groups for my wedding and thereafter I continued with my achievements and struggles in the media industry having won an award in 2001 but for the most part unable to realize my full potential anywhere.

Thereafter I lost touch with this group altogether but heard about some of the good work being done by Suresh Pai and Resul. And I knew considering their hardwork and overall merits they would go onto become celebrities but Oscar was something unexpected.

I didn’t feel like contacting Resul after that because one never knows how he might have changed after becoming a celebrity.  But I had fond memories of him and always thought I would bump against him in some meeting or the other or in the airport. It didn’t happen. I made my son Darshan read his autobiography-Sounding off and told him about our friendship.  I was part of the Kanyakumari-Mumbai journey Resul first undertook to FTII in December 1990 and I could recall each incident mentioned in it. But I was missing in the narrative. I put this in an FB post in 2012 and while in Commodity Online I wrote a year-end piece mentioning Slumdog Millionaire, the relevance of the film, my association with Resul Pookutty. Unfortunately, he didn’t google my name all these years, otherwise, it would have caught his attention.

Recently, the FB post of 2012 showing the cover of Resul’ book wherein I mentioned about the omission of me from the book was posted again in memories in Facebook. It was seen by my wife's uncle  M R Pradeep Kumar (Editor of Balarama) who shared it with Resul. He immediately got in touch with me and immediately that rapport was reestablished. He was in Kochi that day morning but was back in Mumbai when he called me. He promised to meet any day between January 10 and 12 and that’s how the meeting finally took place. It was warm and cordial in the presence of a family friend of mine and an upcoming music programmer Raihan.

He talked about the insecurities of film industry, lamented about not getting a good project after Slumdog Millionaire and in general about the problems faced by sound engineers. We also talked briefly about our old friends and family. I remember he was well read in Malayalam literature especially the classics of Vaikam Mohammed Basheer and his book mentions Hunthrapi Bussato several times. Whether it is literature, drama, people, music, sound,childhood experiences, films or just about anything in life, Resul has a strange way of observing it and coming up with something we didn't notice. He is still a child at heart.

Resul has agreed to include me in the second edition of Sounding off and its Malayalam original version. I am looking forward to it. And curious what he has to say about me!