FTII celebrates Pookutty's Oscar

PUNE: There was a buzz in the air at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on Monday as students and teachers shared in the joy of Resul Pookutty's win at the Academy Awards. Pookutty, a graduate of the FTII, won an Oscar for sound mixing in the film Slumdog Millionaire' . This followed wins at the Baftas and the Cinema Audio Society Awards.
Speaking to the TOI, Pankaj Rag, director of FTII, said that the award meant a lot to the institute."We are extremely proud that one of our students has won this award. There's been euphoria on the campus all day," he said. "The FTII's ex-students' association had felicitated Pookutty before he went. Now we will also have a felicitation ceremony when he comes back!"
Rag also said that this win could impact the area of sound recording and mixing. "It might encourage more students to opt for the sound course now.��� Vishwas Nerlikar, sound recordist at the FTII since 1989, remembers taking Pookutty's practical examinations. "I remember his creativity and hard work. The sound he had to create in Slumdog Millionaire' was not easy, and his creativity helped him there," he said.
Recalls Kedarnath Awati, the dean of films. "When Resul was here I was professor of music and I taught him music as applied to films. I was always interested in matters of sound design and the subject would dominate our conversations. We keep in touch quite often."
Awati said that Pookutty has done some great work with sync sound, something that has been rarely used till date. Head of sound at FTII, K A Sarkar was equally ecstatic about the award. "I taught Pookutty and had taken his batch to Mumbai to visit all the sound studios. He was one of the few students that we at FTII kept track of and we are extremely proud of him. Though we expected a lot from him, getting an Oscar is simply great," said a thrilled Sarkar.
Most of the faculty, including Sarkar, had not seen the film yet but insisted it would be on their things to do immediately' list. "Plus, we want to watch it with Resul," Sarkar said. All around the FTII campus there were students celebrating Pookutty's and A R Rahman's wins. Second-year student of audiography, Tanmay Basu, one of Pookutty's students at a workshop conducted last year, said that Pookutty had even given him the special nickname Sound Rajneesh'!
"We had a great time at the workshop and Resul showed us some of his work, even some of his experimental work. He also provided us with some constructive criticism. What struck all of us was his hard work and his punctuality. He would be in class waiting for us rather than the other way around," said Basu.
Sound students Chandrashekhar Sagade, Anish John and Bigyna Dahal expressed their gratification that sound had been given its due. "Resul was an inspiration even without winning this award," they said. "Sound has been a neglected and compromised aspect of films and now Resul has brought about a change in the whole perception of sound and what it can do for a visual."
Vaibhav Gham, Pookutty's batchmate, now working at the FTII, says that he always knew Pookutty would go far. "This award is not just the result of one day, one month or one year, it is the culmination of almost 14 years of hard work that Resul put in," he said.
Even those that had not met or known Pookutty were proud of his work. Arvind Gupta, a second-year student of art direction said the award meant a lot to Indian cinema on the whole. "It is high time we had a say in the international arena. These awards are just the beginning. Now the way has cleared for us to do better. We plan on having a small party tonight," he said. And, as first year student of sound Gautam Nair put it, "If the Oscars are a dream, then Resul has made it achievable for us right now."