The Konkani film to soon hit theatres in Goa is ‘Pedru Poder’, releasing on February 13, 2020 at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao at 7:30pm. The film is directed by Jojo D’Souza, produced by Deepak Bandekar and co-produced by Chandan Bandekar. After working on Bollywood films, like ‘Hitback’ and ‘Ishq Tera’, Sapna Naik has edited this film.
Naik is probably Goa’s only feature film editor and sound recordist. Originally from Bastora, Mapusa, she shifted to Vasco due to her work responsibilities at Big Banner Entertainment. She studied accounts at Dnyanprassarak Mandal College, Assagao, before realising her love for films. The number of women feature film editors is small and Naik is the Goan in that lot, who is making us proud.
She has done editing for corporate companies, music videos and the Hindi feature films ‘Hitback’ and ‘Ishq Tera’ and Konkani films, ‘Padrik Nanv Na?’ and ‘Pedru Poder’; the film ‘Sochu Tumhe’ is still in progress. “I edited the Konkani film ‘Padrik Nanv Na?’, and the post production was entirely done at our studio Big Banner Entertainment and Media LLP. We recently completed our in-house project, ‘Pedru Poder’.”
“Being a woman editor, I had to face a lot of challenges. People generally think that a woman can’t edit or even do sound recording and work on big Bollywood level projects but when they sat with me with their projects and saw my work, they started appreciating it. We are now in the 21th century and women are as strong, confident and independent to work on projects and complete them successfully, at par with the best, irrespective of gender,” says Naik.
Naik, who actually wanted to become an actor, took on the challenge of handling post production. “We work on Apple systems with the latest professional hardware and software, which are amongst the best in the world. I feel women are more organised and dedicated once they commit. I learnt editing from my passion for watching films and later learnt Final Cut Pro and relevant editing and sound software from various professionals in the industry. I also take dubbing for artistes and sync it to the original source,” adds Naik, who has been working in this field since 2015.
Explaining the requirements of her job, Jojo D’Souza, the head of Big Banner Entertainment, says, “Besides long hours and lots of patience, you need to have a very keen understanding of films and cuts. Technical software knowledge is also a must. Though she has learnt the basics of editing, actual dedication and understanding of the language of film and software like Final Cut Pro and FCPX and sound recording give her an added edge.”
To understand her craft, she has to keep her ear to the ground and watch films that are created beautifully. She watches trending films, especially art films, and as a Salman Khan fan, any film with Salman in it. She says, “Experience is the best teacher,” when it comes to perfecting the art.
