Oscar-Winner Resul Pookutty Slams Silence On Gaza, Says Empathy Has No Borders
Academy Award-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty has called on young people to take the lead in addressing contemporary and global crises, stressing that protests against the Gaza genocide are about “sensitising people” rather than drawing lines between “our” or “their” issues.
Speaking to MediaOne TV at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) on Tuesday, he said: “Youth brings the change everywhere. Look at the Arab Spring, look at every movement in the world. Youth has taken it forward. The future of the country rests on the shoulders of the youth.”
He urged young people to actively engage with pressing concerns. “If they don’t take up our contemporary issues, whether it is global issues, sensitising our people about global issues…” he added.
Resul Pookutty also criticised those questioning solidarity with Palestine. “I have heard some ludicrous comments from people saying, ‘Why are we protesting against something happening in Gaza? This is not our issue.’ It’s not about our issues or their issues. It’s about how do we sensitise people,” he told MediaOne TV.
Linking cinema with movements, Resul Pookutty pointed to his film Dejavu, which takes the farmers’ protest as its central theme. “When we look at the recent farmers’ protest in India, we also learn that a similar farmers’ struggle took place in the US 40 years ago. That parallel is what Dejavu explores,” he explained.
Two of Resul Pookutty’s works are being showcased at IDSSFK this year — Dejavu, which he produced, and A Fly On The Wall, for which he designed the sound.
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Born on 30 May 1971 in Vilakkupara, Kerala, into a modest household as the youngest of eight children, Resul Pookutty’s journey is a tale of persistence. His father was a bus ticket checker, and young Resul walked six kilometres daily to school, often studying by the dim light of a kerosene lamp in a village without electricity.
After graduating in Physics from Milad-E-Sherief Memorial College, Kayamkulam, he joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, where his passion for sound blossomed into a calling. He moved to Mumbai soon after, joining the ranks of FTII alumni who defined the backbone of India’s film industry.
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His early work included Private Detective (1997) and Musafir (2004), but his true breakthrough came with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black (2005), a film that revealed the expressive power of his soundscapes.
Then came the defining moment: Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which won him, along with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp, the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing. The same film also earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Sound.
Since then, he has worked across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, and international cinema, from Enthiran and Ra.One to English Vinglish, 2.0, Pushpa: The Rise, and most recently Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life (2024), which won him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Sound Design.
