The latest of the 'Dhoom' series, 'Dhoom 3' starring Aamir Khan in the lead has sailed past the 300-crore mark. BollywÂood’s biggest action franchise has not compromised on the adrenalin pumping bike-chase sequences that have been the mainstay of the Dhoom series. Behind the success of 'Dhoom 3' is the hard work of the men involved in recreating the sounds of 'Dhoom 3'. Three of ‘our boys’ Ganesh Gangadharan, the sound designer of the franchise, Sam K. Paul, the associate mixing engineer, and Renganaath Ravee, the sound editor, ably handled the sound department of the action movie.
Kerala boy Ganesh, a software engineer by profession, moved to Mumbai and after completing audio engineering studies there he landed himself a job as the sound editor with Yash Raj Films (YRF). Although Ganesh was associated with 'Dhoom 2', 'Dhoom 3' is his first independent work as a sound designer for YRF.
Talking about the sound recording involving the bikes, he says, “While performing bike stunts, it is not always possible to record the sound while shooting on locations outside because of many constraints. So I decided that though the shoots were happening abroad, the sound recording would have to be done in India itself, which I informed the production.”
There were many technical difficulties to surmount explains Ganesh. “The two bikes used — a 1300cc sports bike (Aamir’s) and a 1000cc sports bike (Abhishek’s), are difficult to ride on Indian roads. In India, it is difficult to find a stretch of smooth road or stunt people capable of riding superbikes at speeds exceeding 100kms/hr to get the desired sounds for the film.” Finally, a stretch of road was identified at Mumbai’s Film City where the bikes could run at the required speed. Mounting sound equipment on a sports bike was out of the question so Ganesh sat pillion behind the stunt rider with a wireless boom mike and portable recorder to capture all possible sounds in different gears. “I did not want the audience to differentiate between various elements in the film but rather wanted every element to be integrated into one seamless unit.”
Ganesh mentions that some of the sounds were created in a recording studio by setting up mikes, including a surround mike, placed at nine ‘point’ places on the superbike to capture sounds.
An electronics and communication engineering graduate, Sam moved to Mumbai from Trichur and joined YRF. Speaking about his role in the final mixing, Sam says, “We were given the task of making the film seamless in the final mix stage. The musical edits, pitch corrections and the musical treatment of the entire sound track were all part of the process. This was also the first movie done in Dolby Atmos and IMAX so there was the learning experience too.”
The third Malayali in the 'Dhoom 3' franchise has worked in over fifty films in eight languages including the Mollywood Amen and Shutter. Renganaath Ravee is an independent sound designer but worked as Sound Editor for Dhoom 3. “It was an interesting project with lots of work to do! I have worked with YRF earlier so was called in to be associate on this project. I mostly worked in creating the mood which defines space and creates the right sound ambience. It has been a long, but fruitful process since last August. I am happy to have worked in a big film, not in terms of the star cast but in terms of the making, action and the stunts.”
