‘Sholay’ editor M S Shinde passes away

Shinde,who has edited over 100 hit films including ‘Sholay’,’Seeta Aur Geeta’,’Brahmachari’,’Chamatkar’ and others was living in penury at the PMGP Colony in a tiny 160 square feet room with his youngest daughter Achala.

Until six months ago,they were living in Parel,in central Mumbai. But the building collapsed and they were forced to shift to the slums after the building’s owner reportedly refused to help them.

“We had to shift here because the building had collapsed and there was no help as such,” Prerna said.

He was keeping unwell for quite some time and was unable to pay his medical bills. The cine wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had offered to help him financially.

Back in his younger days,Shinde used to work on a monthly payroll of Rs 2,000 with Ramesh Sippy. He has edited most of Sippy’s movies like ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’,’Sholay’ and ‘Shaan’ among others.

The veteran also worked with producers like I S Johar and Sanjay Khan,F C Mehra and others. Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Zamanna Deewana’ was his last film in 1995. He had bagged the Filmfare award for best editing for ‘Sholay’ in 1975.

Despite having worked in so many films with established filmmakers and stars,no one from the industry helped Shinde during his last days.

“It is sad that my father put in so gave so much to the industry but no one came forward to help us,” Prerna said.

Shinde lost his wife Prafula to cancer in 2006 and is survived by three daughters — Prerna,Achala and Renuka.

His last rites were performed in the evening at around 7.30 pm at Shivaji Park.