H Sridhar passes away
The renowned sound engineer died of a cardiac arrest in Chennai on Sunday night
By Ashwini Deshmukh
Posted On Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Four times National Award winning Sound Engineer Sridhar Hariharan passed away
late on Sunday night. He died of a cardiac arrest. Sridhar who was fondly
called the ‘Mozart of Madras’ had closely worked on a number of films with
music maestro AR Rahman. He had been working on the music score for Ghajini
till the end. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
We spoke to Aamir Khan who immediately went to Chennai to attend the funeral.
Aamir said, “Sridhar was one of the finest technicians of our industry and a
dear friend. I had worked closely with him especially during the final mix of
Lagaan. The news of his passing away is a huge shock and I feel a deep sense of
loss. This tragic news coming at a time when we are all grappling with the
devastating attack on Mumbai has left me completely shattered.”
Sridhar had pioneered the use of digital sound in Indian films. The Chief Audio
Engineer at Media Artists started his professional sound engineering career in
1988. He had worked in over 200 films with renowned filmmakers like Mani
Ratnam, Ashutosh Gowarikar, K Balachander, Shankar, Kamal Hassan, Priyadarsan,
and Ram Gopal Varma. Sridhar engineered all songs and background scores for
films like Roja, Gentleman, Kadhalan, Bombay, Thiruda Thiruda, Rangeela,
Indian, Iruvar, Kaala Paani and Minasaara Kanavu. He was awarded the
President's Gold Medal (The National Award for Best Audiography) four times for
Mahanadi in 1994, Dil Se in 1999, Lagaan in 2001 and Kannathil Muththamittal in
2003.
Sridhar also engineered and mixed albums for George Harrison of the Beatles,
John Neptune Kaizan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain, L Shankar and John
McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra & Shakti fame).
Despite repeated attempts, AR Rahman remained unavailable for comment.
