Resul Pookutty’s 22-Year LLB Journey

The story of how the Oscar-winning sound engineer finally got his law degree

KERALA ~ Resul Pookutty, Oscar-winning sound engineer, is now Resul Pookutty, LLB. Early this month, after a journey that took 22 years, Resul, wearing a black gown, got his name listed as a lawyer in Kerala.

When Resul was a student, it had been his father’s desire to see him become a lawyer. But Resul wanted to study physics instead. He was asked to make a donation for admission to an MSc course, but his father refused since it was against his principles. “I had nothing else to do but follow what he wanted me to do,” Resul says. He joined Government Law College in Thiruvananthapuram in 1990.

Resul changed track the next year, responding to a newspaper advertisement calling for admissions to a sound editing course. After completing that, he came back to Kerala. “By that time, strangely, I had developed an interest in law. Besides, I wanted to make my father happy,” he says. His father’s reaction was unexpected. “He asked me why I was behaving like a monkey, jumping from one tree to another.”

Resul completed the course in 1996, but left three papers uncleared. As his career started taking off, he got no time to study. “In 2010, when Kerala University gave me a reception, I asked the Vice-

Chancellor and my college authorities to give me a chance to complete the law course.” The senate committee cleared it and Resul appeared for the exam earlier this year.

He was working in Hollywood then, and studied during his long flights to Los Angeles. An unexpected hartal on the day of the exam led to a postponement, with no fresh date for the exam announced. Resul had to go back to Los Angeles in a few days. “I again met the Vice-Chancellor and appealed to him to conduct the exam as early as possible.” It took place in a week’s time.

Resul has no immediate plans to practice law. But he does want to do his Masters. “Constitutional law is my favourite subject, I hate tax law,” he says.

On 4 March, Resul was among 400 lawyers at an enrolment ceremony conducted in the High Court. Elizabeth Antony, wife of Defence Minister AK Antony, too was there to start a new career in law. But for a different reason—she wanted to keep her retirement life busy and work for women’s rights.