In May, mid-day had reported that leading editors of the Hindi film industry were planning to meet the Association of Film and Video Editors (AFVE) to highlight the issues plaguing the community (Edit the way we work, May 27). Earlier this week, a group of over 10 Bollywood editors—including Deepa Bhatia, Antara Lahiri and Jabeen Merchant—met the AFVE and the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) in Andheri, to pursue their demand for fair working practices.

Among their top grievances are the uncomfortable working conditions, which include long working hours, lack of proper working spaces, and unreasonable deadlines set by producers and streamers. Senior editor Bhatia, credited with films like Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998), Taare Zameen Par (2007), and Kedarnath (2018), says almost 300 from the community are demanding change. “Senior editors have been getting constant feedback from younger editors about having to work overnight, being denied credit, and uncomfortable working conditions. All this has come to light because we are all sharing our experiences,” she says.

Editor Lahiri, who has worked on Delhi Crime 2 (2022) and the first season of Four More Shots Please, highlights a bigger issue. She says senior editors are replaced unceremoniously, without a no-objection certificate (NOC) in place. “There are contracts with extremely rigid clauses, and a rampant practice of younger and even senior editors being replaced in an ad hoc manner without a proper NOC in place from the editor being replaced,” she laments. They also hope to negotiate a basic minimum wage in an industry where several production houses are infamous for giving insufficient remuneration.

Merchant, who is the editor on Kiran Rao’s film Laapataa Ladies, says, “Some of the practices are systemic—certain production houses are habitual offenders of paying below-par fees and treating editors a certain way. Some platforms are repeatedly not following a proper system when changing editors. Some younger assistants have left town and even given up this profession under the strain.”

After hearing their complaints, FWICE has decided to hold a meeting soon with producer bodies and streamers, including Jio Cinema, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Birendra Nath Tiwari, president, FWICE, says the association has composed a letter based on the editors’ complaints and sent it to producer bodies and OTT platforms.

“The letter has been sent to Zee, Sony, Jio, Netflix and Amazon. We will talk to four producer bodies, including Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association [IMPPA], Producers’ Guild of India, and Indian Film & Television Producers’ Council [IFTPC]. The next step is to hold a meeting with producers, channels and streamers, and get the requirements raised by the editors passed. There are many issues like lack of hygiene and unfair clauses that state editors cannot approach any association and their communication will only be with the producers. We will fight for the editors’ rights,” he says.