The Sound of Ponniyin Selvan - With Anand Krishnamoorthi

The Other Banana

Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 released a little over a week ago and has taken the box office by storm. A critical and commercial success, the film has attracted a wide demographic to the theatres. Largely due to its source - Kalki R. Krishnamurthy's serialized novel Ponniyin Selvan published in the 1950s, a historical fiction based on the Cholas and the conflicts within and outside the kingdom for the throne. The film, like most Mani Ratnam films, is also an example of technical mastery which is one of the attractions for widespread theatre viewing with almost no one choosing to wait for the streaming release like it is the norm of late.

The film is star studded - Karthi, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Trisha, Jayam Ravi, Jayaram, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sarath Kumar, Parthiban, Prabhu, Lal, Prakash Raj and more. There are stars behind the camera as well apart from the director and writing team (Mani Ratnam, Jeyamohan and Elango Kumaravel). It is edited by Sreekar Prasad, art direction by Thotta Tharani with cinematography by Ravi Varman. Music is by A.R Rahman and sound design by Anand Krishnamoorthi. Foley Artist is Prathap and re-recording mix by Craig Mann.

In this episode, we talk about one aspect of the technical mastery - sound design. Sound Designer/Engineer/Editor Anand Krishnamoorthi joins Aditya and Ashoka to talk about the sound of Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 and the nuances in the art of sound design. We talk about sound design in general in cinema as well as the work that has gone into Ponniyin Selvan. Anand gives both eli5 explanations for some aspects of his work and also some nerdy and deeply technical things that go into a film's sound. Listen on.

Definitions of a few technical terms that will help in enjoying the conversation better

Recce

Foley

Sync Sound

ADR

Participants:

Anand Krishnamoorthi

Aditya

Ashoka

Edited by Ashoka.