At the Mumbai International Film Festival on June 18, 2026, editor and filmmaker Deepa Bhatia discussed how an editor shapes a film's experience of time. Her Surviving the Cut workshop urged students and film professionals to watch all the footage carefully before choosing takes, arranging sequences and deciding where to make transitions.
She described Rock On!! as retaining rawness in its opening passages before moving towards stillness near the end. For Sachin: A Billion Dreams, she discussed an opening montage intended to convey the cricketer's life and career. Bhatia recalled spending a year and a half editing the documentary in London.
The workshop also addressed the rhythm within individual shots and the rhythm created between them. Bhatia urged editors to understand the filmmaker's vision and emotional intensity. Discussing documentary audiences, she attributed growing interest in the form to streaming platforms, according to the festival's account.
In a July 2024 Filmfare interview with Suman Sharma, Bhatia described a working method that begins before the final footage arrives. Directors send scripts for her comments; she starts assembling material as it becomes available. She said collaboration and continuing feedback can leave an initial arrangement substantially prepared by the time shooting is finished.
Asked whether editing changed actors' roles, Bhatia said this could happen when a script was too long or a film needed shortening. She described those decisions as collaborative. She also argued for an ethical approach that served the film rather than favouring a star or pleasing a producer.
Bhatia said she had edited about 25 films, but digital production kept presenting new challenges through additional takes, cameras and stakeholder input. She wanted editors to hold to a clear creative direction under those pressures. Discussing the profession's standing, she said editors received less recognition in a star-led industry and called for more attention to filmmaking craft.
