ENTERTAINMENT

TIFF 23 PROFILE: Guneet Monga, Producer Extraordinaire

Posted on October 22, 2023 | by Priya Chopra

On a sunny day, amid the bustling streets and whirlwind of the Toronto International Film Festival, I sat down on a quiet bench with Academy Award Winning producer, Guneet Monga before the premiere screening of her second film at TIFF, Yellow Bus. Monga is the founder of Sikhya Entertainment, a production house based in Mumbai. She has produced 30-35 feature films, including Monsoon Shootout, Masaan, and Gangs of Wassseypur. She is no stranger to film festivals, having had premieres at Cannes, Sundance, and TIFF.

As a child, Guneet wanted to be a CEO of a big international company. “I always wanted to do something to do with global impact, I didn’t know what. The other half of my brain wanted to be an environmentalist.”  Perhaps Elephant Whisperers was the perfect combination of environmental and global impact. Seeing Monga win an Oscar for Elephant Whisperers this past March left a lump in my throat, and pride for a nation of storytellers. She became the first producer from India to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short for the Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves. The documentary follows Bomman and Belle, a couple in South India who spent their life for caring for an orphaned elephant named Raghu. In her Oscar speech, Monga said, “To women who want to tell stories, the future of cinema is audacious, the future is here. This is for my beautiful, diverse country, India.”

Monga has been making waves for years with her ability to foresee a project that challenges societal norms. “It’s all about the intuition. It speaks to you from your life’s personal experiences. It's completely following your gut and hoping everyday you work to living up to that gut instinct.” As a producer, she has championed and explored territory that no one has before. She equates her love for cinema to falling in love so hard that you have to service it everyday. Pagglait is one of my favourite films co-produced by Monga, where a young widow is forced to deal with grief, loss, spousal secrets, and cultural expectations of how an Indian widow should be living and grieving.

When faced with imposter syndrome, Monga attributes having a tribe who believes in her as a source of strength. What really strikes me is Monga’s ability to remain grounded, amidst success both commercially and artistically. She attributes her spiritual side to how she stays grounded and says it has helped her stay connected to both her parents, whom she lost 15 years ago.

Monga caught my eye back in 2013 during the Lunchbox premiere at TIFF. Losing one of the finest actors India has ever seen, I asked Monga about her memories with Irrfan Khan while shooting such a beautiful film. “On a personal level, working with a genius who was so good with material. I am so grateful that he said yes to doing the Lunchbox. He was extremely well read and knowledgeable. He always had a profound take to things. He did Bollywood films, he did independent films. He did the biggest Hollywood films. You just have insane amount of exposure. His humility.”

What is next for Monga and the Sikhya Entertainment team? A new series called 11-11 (Gyaran Gyaran) with Dharma Productions is coming out later this year.

As a trailblazer, Monga continues to pave the way with words of wisdom for fellow filmmakers, producers, and crew: “Keep doing what you are doing, find a tribe, keep them close. There is nothing you can’t do -- you are a living example”.

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