A press conference was held by late Shri Waman Bhonsle Gaurav Samittee to
commemorate the life and work of veteran film editor Late Shri Waman Bhonsle.
The committee suggested recommending his
name for either Padma Bhushan, institute a chair at Goa University in his name
and launch a course on film making and institute an award in best film editing
category annually at IFFI for all films produced in India. They felt the
following initiative by the government would cherish the legacy of this great
man who rose from a very humble background. These initiatives will not only
acknowledge his immense contribution to the film industry but will also
motivate youngsters to conquer new horizons in life.
The press conference started with
screening of a short docu-film on Late Shri Waman Bhonsle. Introduction was
done by Shri Dinesh Bhonsle and Shri Vikas Bhonsle spoke about the early stages
of honouring Wamanji. Pre-Covid they had come up with a plan to recommend his
name for the award but then the pandemic emerged all plans came to a halt.
Unfortunately Wamanji passed away on April 26th 2021 due to Covid. After
Wamanji’s death as a homage to him, his well wishers decided to go ahead with
initial plan to recommend Wamanji’s name for Padma Bhushan Award. They
approached Dinesh Bhonsle for executing their plans with the support of Goan
well-wishers of Wamanji hence the committee was formed under the name Late Shri
Waman Bhonsle Gaurav Samittee. Following Goan personalities came forward to be
members of this committee.
Dr. Minacshi Martins, D’ Satish, Shailendra Mehta, SantoshTari,
Pravin Sabnis, Dnyanesh Moghe, Schubert Cotta, Ramarao Wagh, Ramesh Ghadi and
Dinesh P. Bhonsle.
Shri Shailendra Mehta said the tiny state of Goa has produced
several luminaries who brought pride and glory to the state. These luminaries
left their deep imprint in the field they were active and have become a source
of inspiration for generations to come. He said “One such Goan stalwart left us
recently whose influence is seen widely on the commercial mainstream cinema as
well as parallel cinema. Waman Bhonsle, the legendary film editor witnessed
several eras of Indian Cinema and influenced several trends that emerged over
the years. He is undoubtedly one of the tallest figures in film editing in the
history of Hindi film industry”.
Dnynash Moghe revealed that several personalities had
recommended his name for the Padma Bhushan Award. This involved bodies like the
Federation Of Western India Cine Employees, Association Of Film And Video
Editors, Isidore A. Fernandes, Glenn Souza Ticlo, Subhash Ghai, Boney Kapoor,
Mithun Chakraborty, Mukesh Bhatt, N. Chandra, Ravi Tandon, Anil Lekhraj Khosla,
Salim Akhtar, Ketan Manmohan Desai, Raj N. Sippy, K. Ravi Shankar, Vikram
Mehrotra, Jayant Dharmadikari, D. Satish, Schubert Cotta and A. Durga Prasad.
Shri
D. Satish spoke about the glorious career of Wamanji and his experience with
him while he was producing a Hindi film. Shri Dinesh Bhonsle also spoke about
the further plans of the committee of organizing film festival, film
competition, workshops on film making etc. in the future.
