Waman Bhonsle

Twenty-three films cut here, eighteen of them with the same partner, across twenty-one years. · 1932–2021

Twenty-three films in this catalogue carry his name as editor, and eighteen of them also carry Gurudutt Shirali's.

That is the thing worth knowing about him and it is not in most accounts. The two worked as a pair from Koshish in 1972 to Gurudev in 1993 - Aandhi, Parichay, Inkaar, Khel Khel Mein, Meera, Karz, Krodhi, Angoor, Khud-Daar, Satte Pe Satta, Baazi, Boxer, Duniya, Mr. India, Izzatdaar - and on every one of those the cut is two men's work, not one's.

Four of the films here are his without Shirali: Mera Gaon Mera Desh in 1971, Dostana in 1980, Agneepath in 1990 and Saudagar in 1991.

The range is the striking part. The same pair cut Gulzar's Aandhi, which is a political marriage falling apart in long quiet scenes, and Satte Pe Satta, which is seven brothers and a brawl, and Mr. India, which had to hide a man who is not there. Those are three completely different problems in a cutting room and the answers are all competent.

Angoor is the one to watch for the work. It is a farce built entirely on two pairs of identical twins being mistaken for each other, which means every laugh depends on the audience knowing which one they are looking at and the characters not knowing. That is an editing problem before it is anything else.

Dates and credits from Wikidata.