Editor par excellence

 

In that Jurassic age when there were no satellite television channels spewing out Breaking News 24 hours a day, some intrepid souls had started “video news magazines.” These contained longish news stories on current events and they were produced monthly, or, in some cases fortnightly, and sold through video stores. It all sounds so quaint and even absurd now.

 

One such video magazine was produced by Amit Khanna, the prophet of the communications business, who spotted a trend much before others. With Amit’s range of friends and his goodwill, it was only natural that he managed to convinced film industry stalwarts like KK Mahajan to shoot the stories and Renu Saluja to edit them.

 

That is where I met Renu first and, I can say with some pride, worked with her. To Renu, cutting a news story was a novel experience, but being a news junkie, she rose to the challenge. The result was that we used to have 10 minute long stories, cut slickly and with imagination.

 

But it is not the stories that have stayed with me. It was the experience of spending time in that editing studio, and often outside, with this remarkable woman. Totally focussed while editing, she was an impish soul outside, joking and laughing with everyone.

 

By then, she was already a ‘brand name’, one that every cinema buff knew and respected. She was the hand behind many a classic arthouse film and the winner of several  national awards. Yet, for her, an editing assignment, however different from the norm, was to be treated equally seriously.

 

This spirit of Renu, who died of cancer in 2000, is present throughout the pages of the splendid little book Invisible: the art of Renu Saluja,  put together as a labour of love by people who knew her, worked with her and adored her. Renu was a tough task master, candid and blunt, but lovable and a thorough professional. These traits come through in the tributes  by her friends. She worked mainly with the FTII brigade — Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ketan Mehta, Kundan Shah or other ‘arty’ film makers like Vinay Shukla (Godmother), rather than the big banners, which is a pity, because she would have infused some sense into even masala films.