VILAKKUPARA, Kollam: “Believe me, I won’t be there to take your call on Feb. 23,” Resul Pookutty had said during his last visit to Kerala. “I would quit the place the moment it (the Oscars) is announced. I need to find a place to hide.”

Pookutty had made this statement to friends and family believing that the chances of him collecting an Oscar were slim. On Monday, he was proved wrong when he won this year’s Oscar for best sound mixing for the film, Slumdog Millionaire.

“Everyone’s on top of the world. I still cannot believe being honored along with the world’s best talents,” he had said on telephone from Los Angeles. “It’s a historic moment for India and, for me, and also a huge responsibility.”

Resul termed the Oscar as a Mahashivratri gift to his fellow countrymen and said: “I come from country and civilization that gave the world the word that precedes silence and is followed by more silence. That word is ‘Ohm’. So, I dedicate this award to my country.”

“This is not just a sound award but a piece of history that has been handed over to me,” he added. “I thank all those who made this possible — my village, teachers, family members and the city of Mumbai.”

His family at his ancestral home in this nondescript village in Kollam district went mad with joy when his name was announced and he was called on stage. His seven siblings and close relatives could not hold back their tears.

Resul, 37, lives in Mumbai with his wife Bebin Shadiya, a homemaker, and their two children — three-year-old Ryan and one-year-old Salna.

The sound mixer was inspired and encouraged by his parents, P. T. Pookutty and Sainaba, who are deceased. Resul was the eighth and youngest child of the poor couple, who sustained the children by running a tea shop in the village.

Resul later left his village to join a two-year pre-degree course at a college in nearby Alappuzha district where his father’s brother and his family lived. His father wanted him to become a doctor because his brother’s son was one. But Resul failed to clear the admission test. He instead started pursuing his graduation in physics.

After his graduation, he joined the Government Law College in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. It was here that he was introduced to classics, including those of the Malayalam masters Aravindan and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, the famous citizens of the city.

He used to frequent the film society circles here and one night, he left the hostel to head for the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. He got through the institute on his second attempt and opted to study sound. He also completed his law studies after his father insisted he do so.

Once he graduated from FTII, he headed for Mumbai. He got a chance to work in Rajat Kapoor’s 1997 film Private Detective, but his big break came when he worked with Sanjay Leela Bansali in Black. The rest, as they say, is history.

Resul considers Kerala sound mixers Krishnanunny and Devadas, who had already perfected the art of onsite sound recording in films, as his mentors.

“Sound designing and mixing were never a good production aspect in Bollywood until Black came. But I grew up watching films in Malayalam such as Elippathayam and Kummatti, where the sublime use of sound represents the cultural context,” Resul said.

“Devadas and Krishnanunny’s works taught me the art of blending technology with aesthetics,” he said.