Renu Saluja was an Indian film editor. Renu was one of the most prolific film editors in the `80s and `90s, in Hindi cinema, she worked with directors from both art house and mainstream cinema, including Govind Nihalani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sudhir Mishra, Shekhar Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt, Vijay Singh in over forty feature films, several documentaries, short films and television work.
Background
Renu was born into a Punjabi Family. Her family always supported her and encouraged her to pursue a career in Hindi Film Industry. When Renu applied to the Film and Television Institute of India Pune in 1974, editing was only her second choice. She had applied for direction and did not get through the direction interview. But she did pass the editing interview and was persuaded by her parents to go ahead with it. She finally passed out of Editing course in 1976, and entered the hitherto all-male bastion of film editing in India.
Career
She first edited, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s diploma film, Murder at Monkey Hill in 1976, which went on to win National Film Award for the Best Experimental Film in 1977-78. Once out of the FTII, Renu's made her debut, with batch mate Saeed Akhtar Mirza's Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, followed by with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Sazaye Maut in 1981, then another batch-mate Kundan Shah's comedy classic, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in 1983, where her work was first appreciated. Her early work was in parallel cinema with her FTII colleagues - Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah, and Ashok Ahuja.
The first offer that Renu got from outside her protected circle of 'FTII' filmmakers was Govind Nihalani's Ardh Satya, filmed in 1983. After Ardh Satya, her career really took off. She even did a stint with Doordarshan.
Parinda made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra was perhaps the first mainstream film that Renu edited, who she also assisted. Unlike the smaller films which were made in one schedule and thus she used to get the whole film in front of her before she commenced editing, Parinda was shot over a period of three years depending on star dates, availability of locations, etc.
In the 1990s Renu struck a balance between mainstream cinema as well as parallel cinema and the new crop of 'different indie films' that had cropped up following the success of Hyderabad Blues. Some of the well-known films that Renu has edited include Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron in 1983, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa in 1993, Bandit Queen in 1995, Pardes in 1997, Rockford in 1999 and Hey Ram in 2000, Nagesh Kukunoor's Bollywood Calling and finally Calcutta Mail released in 2003 was her last edited film.