After AR Rahman, Resul Pookutty opens up about ostracisation in Bollywood
Academy Award winning sound designer Resul Pookutty has opened up about being ostracised in Bollywood. In a series of tweets on Monday, he revealed that he had "gone through near breakdown after not getting work in Hindi films".
Resul Pookutty’s Twitter revelation comes days after music maestro AR Rahman said that there was a ‘gang in Bollywood’ which was spreading rumours about him, resulting in him getting fewer Hindi films. The discussions and revelations are part of the larger public debate on nepotism that is raging in Bollywood, ever since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Nepotism is the cheapest and most unimaginative corruption!
— resul pookutty (@resulp) July 27, 2020
“Dear Shekhar Kapur, ask me about it, I had gone through near breakdown as nobody was giving me work in Hindi films and regional cinema held me tight after I won the Oscar... There were production houses told me at my face ”we don’t need you” but still I love my industry,for it (sic),” Resul tweeted in response to Shekhar Kapur’s tweet supporting Rahman.
Shekhar Kapur had tweeted,” You know what your problem is AR Rahman? You went and got #Oscars . An Oscar is the kiss of death in Bollywood. It proves you have more talent than Bollywood can handle."
All my post r not seen in my timeline, posting it here again so that it’s not wrongly interpreted.Oscar curse is over, We moved on.I’m also not liking the direction in which the whole nepotism discussion is going. So peace! I’m not blaming anybody fr nt taking me in their films pic.twitter.com/ldpzSNUlsP
— resul pookutty (@resulp) July 27, 2020
The award winning sound editor also added that he could have easily shifted to Hollywood for work. “But I didn’t and will not. My work in India won me the Oscar. I got nominated six times for MPSE (Motion Picture Sound Editors awards) and won too,” he wrote.
Resul Pookutty also said that the phase he went through was the ‘Oscar Curse’, as the other members of the Academy put it.
“And much later when I discussed this with my Academy members friends they told me about the Oscar curse. It’s faced by everybody,” he wrote.
He also added that the whole phase proved to be a ‘reality check’. “When you’re on top of the world and when you know people reject you, it’s the biggest reality check,” he tweeted.
In 2009, Resul Pookutty won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for his work in Slumdog Millionaire. In a career spanning several decades, the sound editor has won several accolades for his work both national and internationally.