Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475409
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 41 and dedication that is needed in a film. Producers either don't believe in it or don't want to pay for it. This is what separates great work from the average, mediocre. SSS: Dune won the Oscar for Best Sound in 2022! Do you have a specific genre that you'd like to work on? BF: I started off completely enjoying the action genre as a designer. But I got bored with the linear cutting of the action I was being made to do. I felt there was no challenge. The challenge comes when action is stylized. I felt to be able to stylize action it also has to be conceived and shot like that. Tony Scott, God bless his soul, has been a big inspiration with his styling of action. The kind of action I like are the Jason Bourne films, the Guy Ritchie rendition of Sherlock Holmes, The Transporter films, the John Wick films. And then there is the completely whacked Transformer films. I think by 2010, I discovered a genre I would grow to completely love, drama. You could get by with doing nothing and it would sound fine. But when you do start to look beneath the surface and craft, per the screenplay is when it starts to get very exciting for me. The pay-off comes from when the filmmaker calls to tell me, "You've completely transformed the film into something I hadn't even thought about." I think transformations are awesome. I think that's the dots joining my Jurassic Park experience of 5.1 and the whole world of immersiveness. My pursuit is to transport you to a space and a soundscape that makes you believe and experience, because what are you doing? You're watching a film to escape, right? Then, let's escape together. SSS: Tell me about which of your films are most important to you. What are the title and the genre of those films, and your contribution? BF: Rock On!! is a story of four musician friends who fail to make it big as a band due to a misunderstanding. Years later, they reignite their dream by forgetting their woes and embark on a journey they had left incomplete. It's an iconic cultish rock film, there is no other film (I hope) that sounds the way it does. This film is the turning point of my life and for me it's a tribute to the start of my career in live sound, as an FOH rookie. I luckily still had the memory of how gigs sound and the whole concept of my design and mix was to bring a live gig into a theater. Indian films are known for their songs. My outlook was very clear—these are concerts not songs and I wanted the cross-section of audience ranging from 7 to 70 to enjoy the film without hearing fatigue. Recently, I was in a masterclass with some students and I wanted to end the session on an upward note so I played the last concert performance of the film. It overwhelmed me. I don't often watch my work because I don't like to go back to it. I feel if I'm asked to recreate the mix of Rock On!! It would never sound the same. The innocence of the design and mix is what makes the experience magical. SSS: It was a moment. Why can't you go back and watch your own films? What is it? BF: I am too critical. I don't want to find my mistakes (laughs). I would rather someone else point them out. That's just the strange side of me. I am aware of the mistakes I've made. Of course, I am not flawless. There are one or two things in Rock On!! and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara that helped me learn never to make the same mistakes again, and it has to do specifically with dialogue. On Rock On!!, I am wearing various hats like that of the dialogue editor, effects editor, crowd editor, music editor apart from being the sound designer, supervising sound editor, and indulging myself with the mix. SSS: Now, are you doing these films by yourself ? Or do you have a crew? BF: Rock On!! is an underdog story. It as much is my own story and journey and my need to make a mark in the craft and the industry. On all my film journeys, I have had a crew that has worked with me on dialogue, effects, Foley, and mix. The second film is Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (Running With the Bulls). ZNMD is a roadtrip drama, a beautiful film shot across parts of Spain and Mumbai. The trip turns into an opportunity to mend fences, heal wounds, fall in love with life, and combat one's worst fears. My biggest challenge of this film was the dialogue and the approach. A roadtrip film can be a sound guy's worst nightmare. With this film, I think I grew up and matured as an editor/designer. I went on to work on the same filmmaker's next film, Dil Dhadakne Do, which is aboard a cruise liner. On the occasion of their 30th anniversary, Kamal and Neelam invite their family and friends on a cruise. However, on the journey, they learn many life lessons and change for the better. This was technically and creatively a monster of a film. We spent six weeks shooting on the cruise liner that did weekly loops around the Mediterranean. The unit then moved onward to shoot in Istanbul, Cappadocia, and Antalya. I was production mixer on the film again, wearing various post department hats. The production mix and dialogue edit of this film is something I consider my best and most satisfying work to date. SSS: Please tell us about the importance of these three films. BF: Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and Dil Dhadakne Do not only got me a lot of kudos, recognition, and accolades as a sound artist but also helped me grow inwardly as a human being. A dream that once was in the mind of a kid slowly manifested into shape and form. Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Dil Dhadakne Do break the stereo typical and has been a collective of the most profound experiences of my life. It taught me to live to the fullest and be in the moment. It taught me resilience, tenacity and helped me move forward inch by inch towards what was once a dream. All these films needed an immense amount of ideation, prep, and planning. From rock concerts, to living life in a car, jumping out of airplanes, diving underwater, running with bulls in Pamplona, navigating the Mediterranean in a cruise liner, we are gifted with the opportunity to work in an environment or world that's of our own choice. And while these three films are special, I think