The 'Oscar Curse': 2009 awardee Resul Pookutty looks back at his struggles

On the eve of yet another Oscar Night, memory goes back to about 14 years ago, in 2009, when Resul Pookutty came back with an Oscar for Sound Design in Slumdog Millionaire.

Pookutty shared the award with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. The then 37-year-old Pookutty was an unknown name in the country, but that was not to remain so after the Oscar.

The then Left government in Kerala led by VS Achuthanandan decided to accord Pookutty a hero's welcome and the person who was asked to head the welcoming committee was the then Culture Minister MA Baby, at present a CPI-M politburo member.

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And on that day in 2009, his tiny village in Kollam district - Anchal - woke up early to welcome their dearest son.

Soon Pookutty became a popular personality in Kerala and stories of his childhood - how he studied under a kerosene lamp and his daily 10-kilometre walk to his school - all became news.

Also written was how a bus checker's son, the youngest of eight children, the hardworking Pookutty was able to rise to Oscar fame.

Pookutty, after his graduation, gave up his studies in law, reached the Pune Film Institute, graduated with flying colours and began his film career.

His debut in sound design came with the 1997 film Private Detective and afterwards, Two Plus Two Plus One, directed by Rajat Kapoor.

And it was in the 2005 film Black, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, that he firmly inked his name in the industry and since then he has gone from strength to strength.

Then came the films Musafir (2004), Zinda (2006), Traffic Signal (2007), Gandhi, My Father (2007), Saawariya (2007), Dus Kahaniyaan and Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (2009), and Enthiran (2010).

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In 2012, Pookutty was in the news when, to honour his father's wish, he completed his law course and enrolled as an advocate.

In between, he also said that he had difficulty finding work in Bollywood after winning the Academy Award, but is glad that the 'Oscar Curse' is over.

Pookutty's statement came in the wake of Shekhar Kapur's tweet to Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman, telling the musician that the Hindi film industry refused to give him work because he had won an Academy Award, which proved "you have more talent than Bollywood can handle".

Opening up about his struggles, Pookutty tweeted, looking back at the time when he was nearing a "breakdown".

"Dear @shekharkapur, 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 who told me at my face "we don't need you" but still I love my industry, for it," he tweeted.

The sound engineer added that he could have moved to Hollywood but chose not to.

"My work in India won me the Oscar. I got nominated six times for MPSE and won too... There will always be people to run you down but I have far more faith in my people than anybody else," he shared.

Pookutty went on to describe his experience as a result of the 'Oscar Curse'.

"And much later when I discussed this with my Academy members friends, they told me about Oscar Curse. It's faced by everybody. I enjoyed going through that phase, when you are on top of the world and people reject you, it's the biggest reality check," he explained and added, "Oscar curse is over, We moved on."

Pookutty has worked in nine Malayalam films since.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 and in the same year, the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala, gave him an honorary doctorate.