A sizeable group of Army personnel glide over the snowy regions of Kashmir, with the hero Vijay Kumar leading the pack.
They sneak behind a warehouse where tourists are held as hostages by an unidentified terrorist organisation. Vijay Kumar promptly whips out his knife and pastes a chewing gum along with a broken mirror on its edge. He takes one good look at the activities inside before storming into the house.
This partly Bond-esque sequence was the introduction scene for Kamal Haasan in Aalavandhan . Watch the scene closely and you will notice a variety of sounds — snow skiing, footsteps, whip of the knife, the crunch of glass breaking and bodies falling to the floor — all under six minutes.
These nearly-realistic sound effects were artificially created by TP Purushothaman, a foley artist with over 28 years of experience in the field.
“As foley artistes, we have to be equipped to deliver whatever that is required for effects — it could be a simple finger snap or door knock, or complex ones like the sound of a spear and so on,” says Purushothaman, slouched in his chair at a recording studio in Kodambakkam.
Kamal Haasan in ‘Aalavandhan’; one of the films Purushothaman has produced sound effects for
Accidental artiste
Purushothaman came into the business of foley by chance, and in a manner that may seem like a script written by director Pandiarajan.
After graduating in 1984, Purushothaman made frequent stops at several leading production houses hoping to get a chance at acting. His dream of becoming an actor was short-lived because he was shorter than the average height required to pass off as a Tamil cinema hero then.
It was around this time that an assistant suggested that he become a technician instead. He eventually joined sound designer Dhamodharan’s team and learned the subliminal art of foley.
Purushothaman sheepishly admits that he wasn’t aware of the word ‘foley’ before he became one.
“In those days, I was concerned about two things — food and allowance. Kamal Haasan and Vijayakanth are very particular about the meals they serve for workers. So, there was always sumptuous food. Which is why the salary wasn’t an issue,” he laughs, adding that Jai Hind was the first full-fledged movie that he did foley for.
Shobana in ‘Manichithrathaazhu’; one of the films Purushothaman has worked on
Step into the recording studio and you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to a deserted junkyard, where old suitcases, coconut shells, plastic bottles, old bags, utensils, keyboards, telephones, broomstick, pieces of metal and ornaments, to name a few, occupy space in the room — which would barely accommodate five people — predominantly. The nature of his job has made Purushothaman self-indulgent about the objects that he uses in day-to-day life.
“I’ve started to think in terms of sounds. Every time I see an object, I immediately look for the scope of its sound,” he says, explaining with the example of a steel jug, “If you scratch the outer layer of the jug, it produces a certain sound. Likewise, if you tap the bottom, it gives a different one. I take all these into consideration, before I work on a film,” he says.
Purushothaman does the effects along with his frequent collaborator Babu, a veteran in the field. Both of them come to the studio at 7am.
They watch the reels — each consisting of 20 minutes — and take down pointers pertaining to sound. The necessary equipment to create the effect is determined by corresponding events in a scene. Sharing some perspective about the process, Purushothaman picks an old suitcase, which, he notes, is his “treasure”, and wraps it with cotton cloth. He brings two coconut shells and hammers them onto the suitcase thus producing a rhythmic beat. This, he adds, is the sound of a galloping horse.
Rahman in ‘Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru’; one of the films Purushothaman has worked on
Away from the limelight
Foley practitioners are universally under-appreciated and Purushothaman says that the scenario isn’t any different here. Sound designers rob the work done by us, he shrugs. At the same time, he adds that working with sound designer Pratap was an enriching experience.
“I learned a lot of new sounds when I worked with him in Aayirathil Oruvan . That experience came handy when my company was approached for Kaatru Veliyidai ,” he says.
- When Purushothaman started out in the early 90s, he was paid a three digit sum as wage. But now, he says, foley artists earn somewhere between ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 per film.
- Purushothaman’s shift starts at 7am and ends at 1pm. They take not more than a week to finish adding the necessary sound effects to the film.
- Apart from Tamil films, Purushothaman has also worked in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. He did the effects for Karuppu Roja , which was the first DTS film in India.
- His upcoming projects include , in Tamil and in Kannada.
A self-professed fan of Kamal Haasan, he says that the veteran is one of those rare actors who lends props and equipments to foley artists to get the desired output.
“He is probably the only actor who understands the intricacies of sound. During Aalavandhan , he used to visit the recording studio regularly to watch the rushes. If he wasn’t satisfied, he would sit with us and even give us notes as to what could be done additionally,” says Purushothaman, adding, “If there’s someone who acknowledges the work done by foley, it has to be Kamal Haasan.”
One could argue that foley artists are the first consumers of a film before it gets universal acceptance. Ask Purushothaman if he’d ever judged the quality of a film during the recording and he laughs. “It’s easy to predict the box-office performance of some films because we know that the audience is going to hate it,” he says, adding, “Imagine our plight. We have to watch it multiple times!”
