Oscar winner Resul Pookutty to make his directorial debut

Mumbai: Oscar-winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty recently launched his production house Le Penta Entertainment and said he is hopeful to begin his debut directorial venture within the next three months. Pookutty's first film will be a Bollywood project followed by regional movies.

"I am hopeful of making it (arranging sufficient finance) and launch the first film, which will be a Bollywood movie. We will also have regional offerings as we move forward," said Pookutty told PTI.

The 44-year-old sound designer, who hails from Kerala, said he already has Malayalam superstar Mammootty on board for a regional project. Pookutty said he has a triple role in his production house -- director, producer and sound engineer.

He said if all goes well, he will take his company public within the next five years, pointing to the increasing trend of corporatisation of film production houses.

Other partners in Le Penta are former Reliance Entertainment chief Mahesh Ramanath, Kumar Bhaskar, Kuldeep Singh Rathore and Girish Raghavan.

When asked whether they will venture into Hollywood, Pookutty answered in the negative, saying his company will be keen on having some systematic production ties with the US film industry and not a direct one. He, however, added that he has the backing of a major Hollywood production house, which he refused to name.

Pookutty made history in 2009, when he won the Oscars for best sound mixing with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp for Slumdog Millionaire.