Major musical scores, mixed-star casts are on way

Three wins at the 81st Academy Awards by three geniuses — musician AR Rahman, sound mixer Resul Pookutty and lyricist Gulzar — could pave the way for more handshakes between Hollywood and Bollywood.

Says Bharti Enterprises chairman and group CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal: "Slumdog's Oscar win signals the arrival of India on the world entertainment stage." 

That may be a bit rich, but the accolades for Slumdog could bring many international producers to the country, especially to Indian sound mixing studios, which, music composers and sound engineers claim, are as well-equipped and capable as international studios. 

Ask Dhruv Ghanekar, music composer and director, Blue Frog Records, who, along with his partner Ashutosh Phatak, has been composing and mixing sounds for international commercials for the last few years. "The Oscar win is something. It's something that comes your way only after a lifetime of craftsmanship," says Ghanekar. 

John Chittilapilly, chief engineer, Bandwagon Studios, is ecstatic about the victory and says this is the closest we'll get to the Oscars in the sound design category for a long time. "Indian studios are getting a fair share of sound design and mixing projects from high budget documentaries and short films already," he points out.

Arcopol Chaudhuri/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication