MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Acclaimed producer Guneet Monga talks to Ainee Nizami Ahmedi about navigating the path of filmmaking and opening doors for other women

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It’s 2015. The Lunchbox has been nominated for the BAFTAs. Guneet Monga is now a global name (her fame had been building in small circles since the launch of Kavi, an award-winning film on bonded labours in India, in 2009), and independent Indian cinema is finally having its moment. What was Guneet thinking about at this point? “I was depressed,” she says candidly. “I was told that I was just a fluke, and that I got lucky. It kind of took away my spirit, and I spiralled downward. I didn’t know if I wanted to do this anymore.”

Guneet’s thoughts were perhaps the best reflection of the challenges women filmmakers face in the country and the battles they continue to fight. What drives Guneet in this space where she has to constantly prove herself, is the commitment to change the game for women who come after her. Of the several things she undertakes to shine the spotlight on independent Indian cinema and women in films, her recent project Indian Women Rising (IRW), stands out the most.