Nitin Baid on the Edit That Changed 'Homebound': 'Martin Scorsese Has Been the Kindest Human Being'
Nitin Baid reflects on Martin Scorsese’s unexpected guidance and a cut that changed 'Homebound'
To hear Homebound editor Nitin Baid speak of Martin Scorsese is to hear someone still a little stunned by the absurdity of it all. “Martin Scorsese has been the kindest human being,” he says, almost laughing at how casual that sentence sounds. “You’ve spent your life watching Taxi Driver so many times and suddenly you have him as an executive producer, sending you voice notes. It’s surreal,” he adds.
The surreal had to coexist with the practical. Homebound had just wrapped on November 20. Producers expected a cut by January 5. “We were slogging massively,” Baid says. The first cut ran close to three hours which was a luxury no festival would entertain. Something had to go.
The problem was that what needed to be cut was something director Neeraj Ghaywan had lived with for two years. “ I suggested something very big like removing a track and removing some angles which was really hard for Neeraj because he spent like two years writing it. If you’ve written something, it’s hard to just chop it out,” Baid says.
Usually, he lets a director ease into the idea, “one or two months of settling emotionally.” This time, the clock didn’t allow that indulgence. After the first screening, Baid told Ghaywan, “Think about it. You have one week.”
A few days later, Ghaywan came back to the edit room having made peace with the suggestion. “He said, ‘Okay guys, let’s go. The main focus of this film is just these two friends,’” Baid recalls.
It was only after that decision was made that Ghaywan played Scorsese’s voice note. In it, the filmmaker echoed the same instinct Baid had argued for, “You don’t need this track. Maybe you can remove this track.”
Ghaywan had held back the note intentionally. Baid says he didn’t want to steer the edit prematurely. “He didn’t want it to cloud my judgement. He was hoping I’d fight for it,” he says.
When French producer Mélita Toscan du Plantier walked in, she was delighted by the outcome. “She said, ‘Oh, you removed the track? Oh wow. Most of my work is done, why did I come here?’” Baid recalls.