Editor’s Note: “REEL AAPI” is our annual celebration of the talented Asian American Pacific Islanders in the worlds of advertising, film, TV, music, radio and media. Through their contributions and creativity they are making a difference on a daily basis. This list includes people like Kanul Rajan.
Kunal Rajan moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a Sound Designer in Hollywood. After graduating with a Bachelors’s in Sound, Kunal started his career recording location sound for Student films. Following several location sound jobs, he transitioned to post-production sound in 2007. Kunal Rajan has since worked on several prestigious projects as a Sound Designer and won a Streamy Award for Best Sound Design for his work on Fear Clinic.
He has since worked with directors like Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, Now you See Me 2), F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Law Abiding Citizen), Kamal Haasan (Vishwaroopam), Oscar Winners A.R Rahman and Resul Pookutty.
Kunal is working on a big Indian film called Jawan which is a huge action movie releasing September 7th.
How did you get into the entertainment industry?
After completing my degree in Sound, I moved from India to Los Angeles in 2006 to pursue a career in sound. I started by recording live location sound on student films and short films. After a few years of experience in Production sound, I was slowly able to transition to Post Production by around 2009. I have since completed Sound Design on over 150 projects.
Who were your mentors?
During my location sound days, I did a course specializing in post-production sound. I was lucky to have some very experienced working sound editors as teachers. I had people like Rickley Dumm, Vickie Sampson, Solange Schwalbe, and David Sonnenschein teach in that program. Even outside of class they would engage with the students and help us with our projects and have us help them with their projects. Learning sound from experienced people like this made a huge difference.
It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a small mistake you made when you were first starting and the lesson you learned from it?
My mistakes over the years have taught me to be a better Sound Designer and a better person today. Based out of Los Angeles, I work on both American films as well as Indian films. Both industries have a very different sensibility when it comes to Sound. It was hard to separate the two when I would work on an American film and an Indian film simultaneously. Over the years, after a lot of trial and error, I was able to separate both styles and take the best of both styles and put it together. I have learned a lot from my mistakes over the years and continue to do so everyday.
Do you believe more Americans are now finding more acceptance for the AAPI community because of films, TV, and other mediums? Do the arts play a role in acceptance and equity?
The amount of AAPI representation in the entertainment industry has drastically increased over the last 5 to 7 years… and this makes a huge difference. I can see that there is a lot more awareness today of other cultures compared to when I was starting out around 15 years ago. Movies like Everything Everywhere all at Once, Polite Society, Crazy Rich Asians are all telling various stories from around the world which is giving the AAPI community a much-needed recognition.
REELated:
How would you improve AAPI visibility in your craft?
It’s a collective effort as a community. As more of these culturally diverse stories do well at the box office and other venues, we will see more studios greenlighting more of these stories. I am aware of a lot of amazing talent waiting to break out in the entertainment industry with some pretty powerful stories. I can’t wait to see these stories get made into films soon.
How did your friends and family react when you chose your career path?
I am very lucky to have a family that was very supportive of me getting into the entertainment industry. I know of a lot of people who are extremely passionate storytellers but have been forced into other careers due to various family pressure. This happens a lot more in the AAPI community compared to the west. As more culturally diverse films see success at the Box Office, we will start seeing families being more open to their kids getting into the entertainment industry.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what job would you like to have?
If I wasn’t doing Sound Design, I would have loved to be an Astronomer. Astronomy has been a passion and a hobby for a while. They say that Astronomy is a very humbling experience… and I truly believe that.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Investing is not something I was taught at school growing up. This is actually something I was never taught. This was something I had to figure out on my own. I only got interested in learning more about Investing and finance in my late 20s and early 30s. So the one advice I would give my younger self is to invest and learn more about investing as early as possible.
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