National Award winning film editor Waman Bhonsle passed away aged 87, on Monday due to age related issues. His nephew Dinesh Bhonsle confirmed the news in a statement to the Indian Express.
"He was keeping unwell from around a year. He had diabetes for many years, and in the last one year he had also started losing his memory. He was not able to walk around much either and had stopped eating in the last four-five days. He passed away at his home in Goregaon, Mumbai at 4.00 AM today. His funeral will be held in the afternoon today," he said.
Film directors Subhash Ghai and Madhur Bhandarkar expressed their condolences on social media. The Ram Lakhan director called him a 'great teacher', and wrote, "RIP WAMAN BHONSLE SIR. A GENUIS film editor in my first film KALICHARAN remained my editor teacher in all my films till khalnayak n inspired me to edit my film like TAAL n so on. A Great teacher. We @MuktaArtsLtd @Whistling_Woods Remain grateful for good.”
"Sad to know demise of Master Film Editor Waman Bhonsle ji. I was fortunate to have worked with him during my initial days in my career. He will always be remembered for his craft in films like Aandhi, Karz Mr.India,Ram Lakhan, Agneepath, Saudagar, Ghulam & many more. #OmShanti," Madhur wrote.
Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt penned down a tribute to the late editor. "Waman Saab passed away this morning. One of the greats of cinema has fallen. One of the best editors that the film industry has known. There was a time when he was editing films of the biggest and best," he wrote.
Talking about all the big names his 'friend' and 'guide' worked with, he added, "His editing room at the EL CID building near Pali Market saw names like Shekhar Kapur, Mahesh Bhatt, Gulzar, Raj Khosla, Boney Kapoor, Mukul Anand and so many more, on an everyday basis. He was my teacher. Taught me film editing. He was my friend, my guide. The memories of the days and nights spent in his company come at me like a Tsunami. With him, a piece of me is gone forever."
Bhonsle worked under the tutorship of editor D.N.Pai, and soon started editing films in Bollywood. He also won the 'Best Editing' award at the 25th National Film Awards for the film Inkaar. In more than four decades he spent in the industry, he worked on films like Mausam, Karz, Do Raaste, Dostana, Ghulam, and Agneepath.
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