Aseem Sinha with Shyam Benegal. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, March 31: His selection is flawless, his arrangement an arthouse and his timing perfect. No wonder city-based editor Aseem Sinha flaunts a label no less than Shyam Benegal.

Having assisted the legendary filmmaker in directorial marvels such as Welcome to Sajjanpur and the trilogy Mammo, Sardari Begum and Zubeidaa, the 40-year-old Hinoo resident is now winning accolades for Benegal’s latest release, Well Done Abba.

Talking to The Telegraph from Mumbai, a modest Sinha said he was still learning. “Working with someone like Shyam Benegal is always a learning experience. He is not just a filmmaker, but a legend in his own right. He is an encyclopedia and, above all, a very humble man.”

Sinha said he had absolute liberty to edit Well Done Abba, a sarcastic and hilarious take on rural corruption and political powerplay. “The Benegal production house is like a big family. For me, the three most important things of editing are selection, arrangement and timing. These help create a pace and rhythm.” He added that an editor was like the third eye. “There must be good tuning between a director and his editor. An editor is like a psychologist who has to read the director’s mind. He is the first audience.”

Sinha was also all praises for Boman Irani who plays a double role in Well Done Abba — as glam doll Minissha Lamba’s groom-hunting abba and her scheming uncle. “Bomanji is a great human being and a very accomplished actor. You are bound to do well in such company.”

One couldn’t agree more. The movie, which released last Friday, is doing well in most cities, including Ranchi, where it is being screened at Eylex and Sujata Miniplex.

Before venturing into the world of films, Sinha had enrolled himself for a two-year course in editing at FTII, Pune, in 1989. He got his first break with Benegal in Mammo in 1994. He currently runs his own studio at Goregaon in Mumbai and has edited over 50 films of other popular Bollywood director’s like Ketan Mehta, Pankaj Parashar and Kundan Shah. He has also directed a documentary on Subhash Ghai.

Sinha, who received the Gujarat State Film Award for editing, has even done TV commercials and edited popular serials such as Karamchand and Darna Mana Hain.

The man of the moment, however, has no time to cherish his laurels. He is busy preparing for a documentary on exploited tribal women to be shot in Ranchi from May.

With so much to his credit, all one can say is well done Aseem.