When Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) brought people back into cinema theatres post-pandemic, the exhibitors complained of low sound. Sound designer Anand Krishnamoorthi, who bagged a National Award for the film, says, “When we sent the mix [at 5.8 instead of the normal 7, done closer to Hollywood’s subtler style, by Los Angeles-based sound recording mixer Craig Mann of Whiplash fame], they said it sounded like a Hollywood film, not a Tamil one. They claimed it wasn’t loud enough — ‘with no harsh sounding dialogue [which is more of a cultural expectation mismatch].’ When we asked them to play it at the levels they would a Hollywood film, they were reluctant. [Because] in a local film, they expect sharper dialogue to compensate for poor centre tweeters, which in itself is caused by a combination of harsher mixes from the past, and poor maintenance.”
When they asked the theatres to play PS: I at the levels of a Hollywood film, as intended by the sound mixers, they refused because “it’s a Tamil film with Tamil actors”. “When theatres get a local film, they need to hear distortion [the physical alteration of a sound wave, something that many South India films do]. It’s a cultural block,” he adds. When Krishnamoorthi went to watch PS:I at Chennai’s Devi theatre, he was quite happy with it, but says, overall “PS: I suffered because its sound mix [at 5.8] wasn’t harsh and loud. With PS: II [2023, mixed at 5.5], we hit the sweet spot — we didn’t compromise on the dynamics, but overall mixed a touch louder. And we didn’t face much complaints from the exhibitors.”
Anand Krishnamoorthi, National Award-winning sound designer of Ponniyin Selvan: I.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Anand Krishnamoorthi
In general, Indian film mixes tend to be much louder than Western films, shares L.A.-based Kunal Rajan, the sound designer of Atlee’s debut Hindi film Jawan (2023), starring Shah Rukh Khan. “The first reason is cultural. We, Indians, generally are a loud people and often more animated compared to Europe or the U.S.,” he says. “This energy naturally reflects in our storytelling and, in turn, our sound design. The second reason is technical. Over the last few decades, there has been an ongoing ‘loudness war’ between creators and exhibitors. Theatres turn down the levels to protect their speakers; sound designers in turn raise the levels on the mix to compensate. Over time, this cycle has made Indian film mixes louder, harsher and less dynamic.”
Massy actioners to blame?
We have come a long way from the early surround sound days of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993). Krishnamoorthi, who began his film career as a child actor in Mani Ratnam’s Anjali (1990), recalls being “blown away” by the sound of Jurassic Park at the old Sathyam cinema in Chennai (which is now PVR Sathyam). “It was something new; more than the visuals of the film, its dinosaurs had an impact on the audiences because of its sound design. It was really scary at the time, because we were evolving from a mono stereo (single source speaker) to 5.1 surround sound speakers, and now, with Dolby Atmos (a three-dimensional model/experience), sound is more precise. Now you have over-head speakers, so you’ll be able to hear the dinosaurs’ foot-thumping sounds coming over you,” says sound designer Tapas Nayak (Super Deluxe, Kumbalangi Nights).
Tapas Nayak, sound designer of Kumbalangi Nights and Super Deluxe.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy IMDB
Dolby Atmos, which is an industry standard now, is equipped in more than 1,000 theatres across India. Atmos sets the playback level limit at 7, which, “unfortunately, is slowly coming down [in theatre projection] because the content going from the studios is becoming louder”, Nayak says. Today, more massy actioners are being made in the country, such as a Jaat (audiences complained about its loud, grating, distracting background score) or Animal in Bollywood, alongside the southern films — often considered among the louder mixes in Indian cinema. In recent times, KGF:2 (Kannada) and Kanguva (Tamil) were both criticised for being “too loud”. Even the Hindi dubs for these films tend to be loud. Not only in India, Krishnamoorthi says, exhibitors in the US, too, play Tamil/Telugu films at a lower level. Having said that, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2024) is loud, too, but those sections are spaced out to give the audiences’ ears a reprieve. “Nolan actually pushes the soundtrack a little up to get the audience engaged in all his films. But the loud content [in Hollywood films] will be punctuated with passages of silences or dialogues; unfortunately, our soundtracks are consistently loud without any silence, and that becomes a problem”, says Nayak.
Krishnamoorthi adds, “Film mixes have been standardised, but if a theatre isn’t calibrated, the numbers don’t mean much. Playing at level 6, for instance, would sound different in different rooms/halls.” While Dolby Atmos is a technology upgrade, it “doesn’t guarantee calibration and maintenance or playback levels because that’s still in the hands of the individual theatres”.
But theatres don’t have an incentive to do that if the mixes are inconsistent and progressively louder. “A properly calibrated set of speakers will blow if the mix is too hot. So, usually for the first show, the projectionists play it safe and low, and take it up when they learn the mix is safe to play louder. But most films don’t last as long in theatres.”
Compensating for the yelling
Unlike Hollywood films, which are usually played at the right sound levels because theatre owners know their speakers won’t be damaged, when exhibitors receive a Kannada, Telugu, or Tamil film mix, they dial down the sound. “Most of our movies now are massy hero films. The audiences scream every time the hero enters, they cheer at his punch lines. [The studios] compensate for the yelling by cranking up the volume,” notes Krishnamoorthi.
Hollywood-based Kunal Rajan, the sound designer of Atlee’s Jawan, has worked across Tamil, Bollywood and Hollywood films.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Kunal Rajan
Rajan recalls receiving varied complaints on Day 1 of Jawan’s release from two different Mumbai theatres, albeit not equipped with Dolby Atmos. “One said the dialogue was too low, while the music and effects were fine. Another claimed that they could only hear the dialogue but the music and effects sounded low. Both experiences were completely opposite and, as a sound designer, I didn’t know how to react,” he states.
While “many multiplexes are not properly acoustically calibrated, the experience is better in suburban single-screen theatres, which tries to stay honest to the mix,” says Nayak. For instance, sound designer Nithin Lukose (Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, Thithi, and the forthcoming Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Jugnuma – The Fable) recalls being put off at a Mumbai Cinépolis theatre, which had lowered the sound of Tumbbad (2018) and he had to request them to raise it; “as a theatre chain in India, Cinépolis are the weakest in terms of sound. They play at a very low level as international standard. And sound leaks in their theatres,” he says. On the other hand, he has had a good experience watching films at a Dolby Atmos-equipped single screen in his hometown Wayanad. Ironically, since his film Jugnuma has partnered with Cinépolis, Lukose has requested the film’s distributor along with its director Raam Reddy to ask theatre technicians for a sound check on its release day on Friday (September 12).
Nithin Lukose, sound designer of the forthcoming Raam Reddy film Jugnuma — The Fable.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Nithin Lukose
According to a Global Point of Interest (POI) data, there are around 1,941 film theatres in Tamil Nadu as of August 2025. Film editor A Sreekar Prasad (Ponniyin Selvan, The Goat Life, Devara) says, it’s just impossible to conduct sound checks at all the theatres. “We would probably go and check it at a multiplex, like a PVR,” he says. Krishnamoorthi says, among the single screens that have put in the effort to calibrate is Krishnaveni in Chennai’s T Nagar.
So, while, as a quick fix, filmmakers should go check sound at a theatre pre-release, in the long term, there needs to be greater collaboration between filmmakers and exhibitors. As theatre chains expand, the theatre staff/technicians need to be trained in the technology and vocabulary, there needs to be periodic calibration checks, and “films should be sensibly mixed. It’s possible to mix big-ticket and action-heavy films without making it sound harsh and loud. Eventually, it’s about individual skill and taste,” says Krishnamoorthi as Rajan adds, “It has to be a shared responsibility. I’m not blaming theatres alone, I’m also blaming sound designers, which includes me.”
