H. Sridhar – A. R. Rahman’s sound engineer and permanent sound recordist during his first 17 years

H. Sridhar (1958 – 2008) was a 4-time National award winning sound Engineer of Indian film industry, who predominantly worked in Tamil and Bollywood cinema, mostly in association with A. R. Rahman. He has been closely associated with A. R. Rahman during peak years between 1995 and 2010 and worked with him for almost all iconic films made during this period. He posthumously received Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album in the category – Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for the highly acclaimed work ‘Jai Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire (2010). He died of cardiac arrest in 2008 at the age of 50, while he was doing Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini. He was at his career peak with a lot of contributions left when he passed away so unexpectedly.

H. Sridhar was born in Kerala. A mathematics graduate, his interest in electronics and music prompted him to pursue a career in this field. His professional career as a sound engineer started in 1988, and in the next two decades, he rose to prominence as a pioneer of digital sound in Indian cinema, and his works in association with A. R. Rahman got noticed most. He received his first national award for Kamal Hassan starrer Mahanadi (1994), followed by Dil Se.. (1999), Lagaan (2002) and Kannathil Muthamittal (2003). He also received Tamil Nadu state film award for Karuppu Roja (1996). He worked as Chief Audio Engineer at Media Artists Chennai for many years.

He joined hands with A. R. Rahman for the first time for his debut flick – Roja in 1992 where he worked as a sound engineer. Since then he was closely associated with Rahman throughout his life, and also played an important role in the success of the composer. He rose to fame as one of the most talented technicians of Indian cinema within a short period. As an ace sound engineer and audiographer, he handled different kinds of roles including sound re-recording mixing and sound design in more than 200 films. He pioneered the use of digital sound in Indian cinema which was only new in Indian scene in the mid-1990s.

Some of his major works with Rahman include – Dil Se, Lagaan, Kannathil Muthamittal, Slumdog Millionaire, Bombay, Minsara Kanavu (Sapney), Alaipayuthey, Pukar, Nayak, Saathiya, Boys, Guru, Sivaji, New, Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, Swades, Mangal Pandey: The Rising, Jodha Akbar, Aayudha Ezhuthu (Yuva) etc. He worked as a sound engineer for songs and background music of A. R. Rahman’s biggest works of 1990s such as Roja, Gentleman, Duet, Thiruda Thirada, Bombay, Rangeela, Kathalan etc – all of them released in the first half of 1990s. His other major works are Mahanadi, Kaalapani, Jeet, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Sooryavamsham, Kaun, Tera Jaadu Chal Gaya, Cheeni Kum etc.

H. Sridhar – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He was a fantastic keyboard player, who revolutionised sound recording and mixing in Indian cinema in the 1990s.

2. His Bollywood career starred with Rangeela and ended with Ghajini. Interestingly A. R. Rahman composed music for both these films, and Aamir Khan played the lead role. He was working on Ghajini when he died of cardiac arrest, and Aamir immediately went to Chennai to attend his funeral. The trio also worked together for Lagaan, which earned Sridhar and Rahman National award.

3. Sridhar worked with Aamir Khan for Rangeela, Ghajini, Lagaan, Mangal Pandey: The Rising and Dil Chahta Hai.

4. He engineered and mixed sound tracks George Harrison of The Beatles, John McLaughlin, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain etc.

5. He engineered all sound tracks and background scores of A. R. Rahman, right from his debut work Roja to 2010 release Slumdog Millionaire, spending almost 2 decades with him. He was the permanent sound recordist of Rahman.

6. This audio engineer played a very important role in the success of A. R. Rahman’s career, whose tunes and mixing are entirely different from his contemporaries of 1990s and 2000s, and got noticed for the same fact too.

7. He had created the final copy of Slumdog Millionaire before he passed away. Sadly he couldn’t witness the international acclaim received by the film and its music.