CHENNAI: Four time National Award winner, Sound Engineer H Sridhar passed away on Tuesday morning. Famous for his 15-year old association with AR Rahman that dates from Roja to the just released Ghajini, Sridhar was among the best sound engineers in the trade. He is said to have worked until 3 am with AR Rahman for the final mixing of Gazini, and died of a cardiac arrest in his sleep. He will be cremated on Tuesday morning.
Regarded widely as the genius behind AR Rahman’s successful live shows and musical scores, Sridhar Hariharan won himself the president’s Gold Medal (National Award for the Best Audiography) four times: 'Mahanadhi', 'Lagaan', 'Dil Se' and 'Kannathil Muthamittaal' - the highest number of times by any sound engineer (along with SP Ramanathan). Sridhar was revered in musical circles as the pioneer of the use of digital sound in DTS format in the country, besides taking up even six-track recording for over 200 songs. The chief audio engineer at Media Arts, Sridhar had worked for over 200 films, with the country’s leading musicians, including Ilayaraja, GV Prakash and Shankar Mahadevan.