From Engineering to Editing

“I have unfortunately always been good at studies,” quips Srujana, laughing. An up-and-coming film editor, Srujana's debut feature film Mem Famous is releasing on May 26, while Dead Pixels, her debut OTT series will be streaming on Disney + Hotstar from May 19. Srujana’s foray into the world of cinema came long after pursuing her Bachelors and Masters in Engineering, in India and the US, respectively. “I have been interested in films for a very long time. But hailing from a small town like Guntur, I have not seen anyone pursue filmmaking. It was truly a far-fetched concept for me. And it certainly did not help that I was really good at studies. My path towards academia was practically set in stone.” 

Moving to the University of Toledo in Ohio to pursue her MS broadened her horizons. “Working as a teaching assistant, I saw students in their forties and fifties. Watching them in university at that age sort of emboldened me to take the plunge and apply to film school.” 

Speaking about how she zeroed in on specialising in film editing, Srujana continues, “I initially thought of getting into direction. But I don’t write stories nor am I good at photography. That is when I stumbled upon this documentary called ‘Cutting Edge’, which really sold the idea of film editing to me.” 

Following a degree in film editing from FTII, Srujana went on to work as veteran editor A Sreekar Prasad's assistant in films like Akashvani and Modern Love (Hyderabad). Speaking about her experience working in Mem Famous, Srujana says, “It was a very exciting process, thanks to the kind of story it is presenting. I did my best in bringing in the best possible vision of the film’s director Sumanth Prabhas, who is also the protagonist of the film. It was a very hands-on process, in terms of working as well as learning.” 

Dead Pixels, her other project, is an official adaptation of the BBC series by the same name. Having watched the British version, Srujana notes that the challenges involved in adaptation were also reflected in the editing table. “The British style of humour is very dry and casual, with a lot fewer pauses and music underlining. The pacing of the Telugu adaptation is different, and we had to incorporate that accordingly. Since the show is also about gaming, the craft is also different, as we have to showcase going in and out of a game in parallel with the characters’ individual journeys and group dynamics. All of this made working on Dead Pixels a very interesting experience.” 

Srujana signs off the interview revealing some of her upcoming projects, “I have a web series for Prime called Kumari Srimati, which is almost nearing completion. There is a film called Narayana & Co, starring Sudhakar Komakula and Yevam, which is produced by P Navdeep’s C-Space.”