Highlights
- Three Kerala-based engineers part of Oscar-winning KPop Demon Hunters team
- Film won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards
- Trio worked in pipeline engineering at Sony Pictures Imageworks
- Their role formed the technical backbone behind the film’s production
Behind the scenes of an Oscar-winning success
The global success of KPop Demon Hunters has a strong India connection, with three engineers from Kerala contributing to the film’s production.
Kurian Onnunny Samuel, Binku Mathews and Joseph Tom Neriamparambil were part of a 500-member team at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Vancouver that worked on the film.
The animated musical fantasy not only secured the Oscar for Best Animated Feature but also picked up an award for Best Original Song, marking a major achievement for the team behind it.
The story and its global reach
Blending K-pop, action and Korean mythology, KPop Demon Hunters follows Rumi, Mira and Zoey, members of a world-famous girl group who secretly double as demon hunters.
While performing to global audiences, they use music and teamwork to combat supernatural forces, eventually facing a rival boy band revealed to be demons in disguise.
The film has also made a strong impact beyond awards. Streaming platform Netflix reported that it drew 482 million views within six months of release, with its soundtrack continuing to trend worldwide.
The invisible backbone of animation
While animators and artists are often front and center, Kurian, Binku and Joseph worked in the pipeline engineering department, a critical but less visible part of filmmaking.
Their work involves building tools and software that allow artists to function smoothly, solving technical issues and ensuring production workflows stay on track. From fixing rendering problems to streamlining processes, the pipeline team keeps large-scale animation projects moving.
Kurian Onnunny Samuel, a principal software development engineer and one of the studio’s longest-serving members, highlighted the scale of technology behind animation, noting that every frame relies on complex engineering systems.
This marks his second Oscar-winning project, having also contributed to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which won the same category in 2019.
For Joseph Tom Neriamparambil and Binku Mathews, the journey reflects years of persistence and collaboration. They emphasize that large productions depend on teamwork, patience and the combined effort of hundreds of contributors working behind the scenes.
Together, their work underlines how global film successes are often powered by talent operating far from the spotlight.
