Guneet Monga is an Indian film producer known for producing short documentary films and Bollywood films. She is the co-founder of Sikha Entertainment (a boutique film production house) and Indian Rising Women (a cinema collective).
Wiki/Biography
Guneet Monga was born on Monday, 21 November 1983 (age 39 years; as of 2022). She completed her schooling at Bluebells School International, New Delhi. She received a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi. She shifted to Mumbai in 2006.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 4″
Weight (approx.): 55 kg
Hair Colour: Medium Ash Brown
Eye Colour: Black
Family
She belongs to a Sikh family.
Parents & Siblings
She is the only child of her parents.
Husband
Guneet Monga got married to the entrepreneur Sunny Kapoor on 12 December 2022.
Marriage photograph of Guneet Monga
Career
Guneet Monga began her career with an internship in 2004, as an intern of a production coordinator for the French-German film “Valley of Flowers.” She joined Sepia Entertainment in 2006 and worked as a full-time production coordinator for the English-language film “Partition” (2007), which was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography in 2008. She also worked on the film “Say Salaam India” (2007).
Poster of the film ‘Say Salaam India’
Monga established her own production house, Sikhya Entertainment in April 2008, in partnership with the producer, Achin Jain, and produced popular films like ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’ (2011), ‘The Lunchbox’ (2013), ‘Peddlers’ (2013), ‘Masaan’ (2015), ‘Haraamkhor’ (2015), ‘Pagglait’ (2021), and ‘Kathal’ (2023).
Poster of the film ‘The Lunchbox’
She joined Balaji Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd in 2008 and worked there for one year as a Supervising Producer. She met Anurag Kashyap in 2009 while working on the film “Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai” (2010) and later joined the Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd. (AKFPL) as CEO. She worked there on the blockbuster film series “Gangs of Wasseypur.”
Poster of the film ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’
Some other films she worked on while working at AKFPL include Trishna (2011), Shaitan (2011), Michael (2011), and Aiyya (2012).
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- Guneet Monga was voted as one of the top 12 achievers in the Global Entertainment industry by the Hollywood Reporter.
- India Today enlisted her among the top 50 Indians changing India.
- In March 2018, she was selected by the American film magazine, ‘Variety,’ as one of fifty women from the entertainment industry who is doing ‘extraordinary things on the worldwide stage.’
- In 2009, her international short film “Kavi” (2009) which was based on bonded labour in India, won the ‘Student Academy Award – Narrative’ and was also nominated for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film.
- In July 2014, Mid-Day enlisted her in the ’35 Achievers Under 35′ list.
- Guneet Monga along with Ritesh Batra, Arun Rangachari, and Anurag Kashyap was nominated for the BAFTA award for the film “The Lunchbox” for Best Film Not in the English Language in 2015.
- Along with Deepika Padukone, Monga was the only woman featured in Variety’s ‘International Women’s Impact Report 2018.’
- GQ Magazine honoured her as “Producer of The Year” in January 2019.
- In October 2019, she was honoured as ‘Most Powerful Women in Indian Business’ by Business Today, and ‘India’s Most Powerful Businesswomen’ by World Economic Forum.
- In December 2019, The New Indian Express enlisted her in the ‘Five Indian Entertainers In The Global Spotlight.’
- Guneet Monga won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for her short film “Period. End of Sentence” at the 91st Academy Award in 2019.
- In April 2021, Guneet Monga was honoured with the second highest civilian French honour, ‘Chevalier dans I’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters), by French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yues Le Drian in Delhi.
Facts/Trivia
- Her film “The Lunchbox” (2013), which was a co-production between India, France, Germany, and the USA, and her film “Monsoon Shootout” (2013), which was a co-production between India, the Netherlands, and the UK, were selected for International Critics’ Week. Both films were also selected for a midnight screening at the ‘Cannes Film Festival 2013.’
- Guneet Monga is among the first producers from India who was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- The producer has been a victim of age and gender discrimination in the initial days of her career. In an interview, she revealed that she used to dye her hair grey and wear saris to meetings to look older as she believed that she won’t be accepted as a film producer at a young age. She believed that people often expect film producers to be older males. While talking about this in an interview, she said,
Otherwise, how would a twenty-six-year-old be taken seriously? I just had to fake it—that I know my shit.’
- Monga worked as a DJ, an insurance agent, a sales agent for Laughing Cow cheese, an event planner, a rally car driver, and a property saleswoman before entering the film industry.