The Sound Man - Mangesh Desai

SYNOPSIS

​

Mangesh Desai was a giant in the world of Sound Recording & Mixing who recorded and mixed most of all Bollywood films of his time. Apart from Bollywood, producers and directors from all over India approached him for mixing. His understanding of the craft and technique was unparalleled. New York Times rated him among top 10 sound mixing engineers of the world.

​

Producers queued up at his door waiting for his mixing dates. Vidhu Vinod Chopra tells how Mangeshji mixed his first two films free of cost and helped him stand on his feet as a director and producer. Gulshan Rai, the producer of Director Yash Chopra’s Deewar and Kabhi Kabhi lost faith in the films but Mangeshji’s tips on reshooting and re-editing made those cult classics a commercial success.

​

His dynamic range of work goes from the artistic extremes of Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal’s art films to Manmohan Desai’s commercial films. He could blend himself according to the needs of the subject, the film and the director.

​

Before being a gifted technician Mangesh Desai was a freedom fighter, a nationalist and a patriot. As a freedom fighter he fought the British with smuggled revolvers and self-made bombs. As a nationalist, he went further by trusting his life with Indian doctors because ‘What is wrong with our doctors? They are just as good.’ He died due to complications beyond human control. 

​

He was a legend by all its definitions.