Bollywood Backstage: The Magician Who Makes Your Films Sound Right

Karan Arjun Singh is a Mumbai-based Foley artist who has created sounds for movies like Raees, Sultan and Baahubali.

Karan Arjun Singh in action with his team. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Located deep in the narrow lanes of Goregaon is one of Mumbai’s best Foley studios, where magicians like Karan Arjun Singh, Shankar Singh, Anil Pawar and Ram Nath create sounds effects for Bollywood’s biggest movies.

Meet Karan Arjun Singh, a Foley artist at Just Foley, who along with his teammates, has done Foley for films like Sultan, Raees, Dangal, Neerja, Secret Superstar, Tumhari Sulu, Baahubali, Jab We Met and many more.

For the uninitiated, a Foley artist recreates the sound effects of a film, added in the post-production phase. Most of the sounds in a movie are produced separately in a Foley studio as the on set props are artificial.

An action film has over 5,00,000 sound effects and Karan Arjun Singh explains how he creates the sounds in his 10ft X16ft sound studio, bringing to life the biggest blockbusters.

From the banging of a metal door to explosions, every sound effect is recreated for a film by the Foley artist. For the audience, however, it becomes a seamless experience. They don’t realise that the sound elements have been added separately.

Karan also speaks about how challenging it becomes to create the sound of footsteps - to make it sound authentic, whether it is the sound of a marching battalion or that of Kareena Kapoor. In fact, the artists have shoes named after on screen characters from films like Singham or Golmaal that they use extensively.

Watch this video to find out more about the fascinating art of Foley and how it’s done in the movies.

Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Camera Assistant: Gautam Sharma
Video Editor: Ashish Maccune
Producer: Vinu Joseph