The invisible man

Vivek Harshan who won the National Film Award for Best Editing for Jigarthanda tells the author what it’s like to be an editor.

Vivek Harshan. Photo: M. Moorthy

Awards mean a lot to editors. As Vivek Harshan, who won the National Film Award for Best Editing (for Jigarthanda ), says, “If it weren’t for the award, many wouldn’t have known I worked on the film.” With Karthik Subbaraj and Bobby Simha grabbing the headlines, Vivek’s work in the film has not received the acclaim it should have, but as he agrees, it’s on account of the nature of his profession. Editing, he says, is an invisible job. “You see the hero, you see the stunts, you hear the music, but the editing… I believe you should never be able to see that.”

His master, editor Anthony (who has done films such as Kaakha Kaakha , Ghajini , I , and Anegan ), was different. “He was more liberal with his intercuts and jump cuts; more flamboyant. I’m of a mellower mould,” says Vivek, who assisted him for three years. “Though I learnt the basics of Avid (editing software) from an editing course in Chennai, it was Anthony who taught me everything I know today.”

Vivek doesn’t like to be micromanaged. “I like to be left alone when I’m editing — a method I picked up from Anthony,” he says. Karthik Subbaraj gave him that freedom in

Jigarthanda . “Only after the first cut was ready would we discuss changes.” And then, the disagreements would crop up. “No film is truly complete without intense disagreements between the director and the editor.” It is at this stage that Vivek uses what he considers one of his strengths — the ability to wear directors down when he knows he is right. “It is also my responsibility to ensure a film doesn’t drag, that no moment goes a tad too long and makes the viewer lose interest.” In that sense, an editor acts as a representative of the audience and tries to get a grip of the “graph of the movie. It’s my job to elevate the lows in the graph.”

(A still from Jigarthanda)

However, he does get miffed when the occasional critic blames him for a movie’s length.

Jigarthanda , for instance, ran for a whopping 171 minutes. “Some scripts need that time to achieve completion. Each film determines its length.” While

Jigarthanda ’s script was a great motivator, Vivek admits there are films that call for hard work on account of how uninspiring they are. “As editors, it’s our job to see how we can make even those films better.”

There are other details that he keeps an eye out for. “Continuity jumps, for instance,” he says. “In one shot, the actor will have probably held the remote in his right hand. In the next, it may be in his left.” He also doubles up as a director when he suggests addition of certain shots. “Sometimes, a close-up of an actor would enable a smoother transition to the next scene. I ask the director to shoot it during the next schedule.”

These days, editing happens as the film is shot. “By the time shooting is completed, the first cut gets ready. Then, I sit with the director on the final cut. Jigarthanda ’s final cut took me about a month-and-a-half.” He also talks about the importance of storage. “At any time, we have three backups of all the footage. Three-and-a-half hours of video typically comes to 300GB. If this seems hard to manage, I can’t even imagine what it must have been for editors of those days who had to literally cut the film and had men slug heavy reel boxes around. I’m glad I was born much later.”

His most favourite film is Requiem for a Dream . “Editing makes this film so stylish and pacy. Do you remember those shots every time the protagonist gets high? The quick transitions between the cocaine, the dollar note, the snorting, and the pupils dilating… it’s beautifully done.”

Even though Vivek pulled all-nighters during the early part of his career, he doesn’t work more than 7-8 hours these days. “Even if I have multiple projects, I try not to work on more than one film a day, in order to try and be in the mood of that film.” Things weren’t always so rosy. In 2011, he was working on both Oru Kal Oru Kannadi and 22 Female Kottayam during the same week, and had to travel every day to Kerala and back. “I’m now planning to open my studio in Chennai to avoid such complications.” Vivek is presently working on Rajini Murugan starring Sivakarthikeyan, and Rajesh’s Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga . Like most people in the industry who are not directors, Vivek also wants to become a director some day. “Something about direction makes your cinematic journey complete.”