Kunal has also worked with legends like AR Rahman, Resul Pookutty, Karthik Subbaraj, and Vijay Sethupati.ĭoes he find a different sound aesthetic in Indian and Hollywood movies? “Sound in Western cinema is subtle, while it is over- the-top in Indian films. On his resume is the Tamil musical drama Uttama Villain where he collaborated with Oscar-winning sound mixer Craig Mann. With a team of 10 sound editors and mixers from Hollywood, he is one of the most in-demand sound engineers in India and Hollywood.
Kunal’s discography is impressive enough to fetch him such big-ticket projects. Creating the buzz now, Rajan’s project with SRK in the lead and directed by Atlee is to be released in 2023. This technique creates a spatial sound field by adding a height layer around the audience on top of the traditional 2D surround sound system. The first time he made news as an Asian technician was when he mixed a film in ‘Auro 3D’––an immersive 3D sound format. He moved to the US 15 years ago and has worked on over 150 films, including 50 horror productions since. Armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sound from Puducherry University, Kunal started by recording ‘location sound’ for student films. As he relishes the success of his latest Tamil movie Mahaan that released in February, with Karthik Subbaraj, Rajan looks back at his ‘sound CV’ with pride.
The 36-year-old Pudu- cherry-born technician is the only Indian sound designer who works both in Hollywood and Indian cinema while living in Los Angeles.