They say you can make or break a film in the edit room. We can say our interviewee has no experience with the latter. Credited with 83, Gunjan Saxena, Gully Boy, Raazi, Masaan, Trapped and other highly acclaimed films, Nitin Baid is one of the finest film editors in Bollywood. We picked his brain about his filmography and tried to understand what an edit process with the most prominent directors in Bollywood is like and how one finds the opportunities that he did.

Born in Calcutta, Baid never thought he would see further than his family business. He recalls that his decision to pursue film was mounted when he was introduced to world cinema in his undergraduate days. He says he realised, “Every story has its audience and as long as you have a voice and know what you’re trying to say”. After that, there was no turning back. He applied to various film schools over the country to specialise in direction, except at Whistling woods, where he chose editing. As you probably guessed, that’s where he eventually honed his craft.

How vital was film school for your career?

FILM SCHOOL

Personally, it was a good move. I would have been doing random things if I wasn’t in film school. Going to film school does not help you bag jobs, but it will push you in the right direction. It does mean that employers expect you to at least be technically sound. But if someone decides otherwise, there’s enough stuff on YouTube and other platforms to pick things up and try them out.

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR

After you graduated, how did you go about looking for work? And how did you finally manage to bag a project like Gangs of Wasseypur (as one of the editors) for your very first feature film?

I didn’t know people in the industry, so that I would email my showreel to anyone and everyone. I made a lot of cold calls to editors, directors, and production houses. On the set, I met Sweta Venkat, the editor of The Girl in the Yellow Boots. I received an email from her a few months after about my availability. I thought it was about Gangs of Wasseypur because there was some buzz in the industry about it. And I was right. I’d always wanted to work with Anurag Kashyap, and I really connected with the genre of the film. Gangs of Wasseypur was a year-long edit that took over a year.

Your solo editorial debut was the critically acclaimed film Masaan. How was it different from Wasseypur?

MASAAN- FIRST SOLO EDIT

I worked on a few short films parallelly with Gangs of Wasseypur. It gave me the confidence to handle projects on my own. Masaan was carried on the shoulders of fresh talent in all departments. There was a lot of innocence and a certain charm because we wanted to prove ourselves. It was an exciting process. When we came back from Banaras, we thought we had made the worst film on the planet, and everyone would hate us when we came back. Those moments train you because there seems to be a solution for everything when you think of them now. We were scared because we were working under our mentors; we had to show them our own film. We wanted to do our best; we were doing our best in whatever form it might have been. So that fear was always there. And it makes you work extra hard.

You then worked on Raazi. The stakes were much higher in this case because the scale was bigger. What was that process like?

RAAZI

Raazi was my first big venture regarding the scale, magnitude, and money invested. I met Meghna when I hadn’t done any major commercial work and did a test shoot with her. I would receive the raw footage every week during the shoot, which was cut for weekly viewings… I still remember that she wanted to see the climax four days after the shoot wrapped up. The team was very worried about it because it was a very chaotic shoot, even with four cameras. But it came together beautifully, and she was happy with it right from the first cut. So, I was relieved. Meghna is very meticulous and precise with her work. She doesn’t dwell on things for too long. It doesn’t take her more than a day or two to make big decisions.

Then, of course, came the biggest commercial film of your career- Gully Boy. A visual masterpiece that must’ve been a challenge to edit. How did you approach it?

GULLY BOY

Many things in Gully Boy come from Zoya and Reema’s script itself. I landed the project out of sheer luck because the dates didn’t match her initial editor. The edit was just a lot of structuring and restructuring. It was a conventional story that we tried to keep rooted so that the audience feels connected with the character. That’s what made it impactful. You want to stay true and honest to the story and ensure that everything moves organically, making it seamless. A lot of that had to do with the performances, the direction, the protection design- all of it.

Zoya doesn’t like to come to the Edit table for a long time after she shoots. She came in two months later into it, and she was cringing. She constantly feels like she made too many mistakes during the shoot. So we left the country for three months just to focus on the edit. We would look at every scene individually first and then view it all as a whole. There was lots of material, so we had to cut out small portions of numerous scenes. There was also a lot of rearranging. For example, Ranveer Singh’s character choking at the rap battle was originally part of the second half. Jawed Akhtar sir pointed out that his struggle should begin right in the middle. It was a different perspective that helped the film flow better.

Similarly, there were issues with the climax. There were too many “highs,” and it didn’t hold your attention after a certain point because you had already seen the protagonist emerge victoriously. So we moved The Train Song to the end of the film (instead of after a rap battle where it was placed initially), and it all came together.

You also worked on two of the biggest films of 2020- 83 and Gunjan Saxena. What drew you to these projects?

2020 PROJECTS: 83 & GUNJAN SAXENA

I wouldn’t call Gunjan Saxena a military army film. I was interested because it’s primarily a father-daughter story. The army angle is just a backdrop to this, which moved me. At its core, it’s a simple journey of a girl who wants to achieve her dreams. It was very interesting because we haven’t seen any female-oriented military films with actual choppers and elaborate set-ups.

83 is a beast itself- a magnum film. It was very strange how 83 came to me. I initially rejected the offer because of the dates. But somehow, things fell through, and my timeline opened up. Luckily, they hadn’t found anyone yet, and I was back. The film had come together edit wise before the lockdown. It’s a very special film. It’s one of the purest historic sports moments. It’s a story about underdogs who won the World Cup and came back to be very nonchalant about it.
It was just a very beautiful story. Kabir Khan, the Director, has managed to pull off a very difficult film. It’s amazing.

Do you ever like to see yourself sitting in the Director’s chair yourself?

DIRECTING AS A CAREER CHOICE

I’ve been working on a short film that I want to make, which will hopefully materialise soon. Obviously, I want to create things of my own. It was always part of the plan. Editing is one phase, and for me, it’s very refreshing. It makes me excited about the profession itself. Even if I move into direction, I’ll probably come back to editing eventually.

Finally, what advice would you give a young editor who is just venturing into the field?

ADVICE

Personally, the best advice would be that you should enjoy watching AND working on films. Obviously, they are two very different things. For me, editing was “it” because I didn’t see myself doing anything else. This was the only creative format where I got to work closely with the Director. Every process after the film is shot connected to me. So I’m part of a lot of creative calls. Be in love with cinema, and work in all departments even if you think you know what you’re most keen on. And have a lot of patience. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time, but it also tends to pick right back up very quickly.