Guneet Monga is an independent film producer and founder of Sikhya Entertainment in Mumbai. She describes herself as a storyteller who is fascinated by movies. Monga has produced acclaimed movies like Gangs of Wasseypur and The Lunchbox, but her dream project would involve director Mark Forster. Currently, she is producing an English language film with Kal Penn and Melissa Leo. Monga's goal is to provide a longer shelf life for independent films across festivals and countries in order to change perceptions of "independent cinema."

1. APRIL 2016 115
Tucked away in a corner of Aram Nagar in
Versova, Mumbai, is Guneet Monga’s new
and bare office where we interview her. The
independent film producer and founder of
Sikhya Entertainment starts by telling us, “I
am a storyteller. I always have been one and
that’s what fascinates me about movies.”
She has worked on unforgettable movies
including Gangs of Wasseypur and The
Lunchbox. “But my dream project would be
one that involves Mark Forster.”
Going Beyond
Currently, she’s producing an English
language film with Kal Penn and Melissa
Leo in the lead. “I see English language
films in my future and don’t want to be
restricted to any particular industry,” she
tells us. And she has already successfully
taken Indian language films abroad, to
Hollywood, to other countries where
cinema is equally appreciated.
The ‘Big’ Indian Producer
When at film fests or events outside of
India, her friends introduce her as a ‘big’
Indian producer, she responds saying, “big
horizontally”. Jokes aside, her goal is to
provide a longer shelf life to independent
films and good content across festivals and
countries. She would like to change the
perception that ‘independent cinema’ is
‘arthouse cinema’ or ‘dark and depressing’.
“The larger process of assimilating the kind
of cinema we produce with mainstream
cinema has just begun. I hope it won’t be
long before cinema is enjoyed for what it is.”
G U N E E T M O N G A
FILMPRODUCER
Photographs VICKY ROY, MEHTAB MANN Words SPARDHA MALIK
The women who are successfully creating diverse platforms for incubation
and expression of creative minds
T H E C R E AT I V E
C U LT I VAT O R S
Neha Kirpal was an average
26-year-old when she and her co-
founder Amrita Kaur imagined
an art fair in the country. The
India Art Summit in 2008 was
quite an ambitious move. “In your
20s, you dream of the world,”
she tells us. In a country with
few museums, galleries and art
education institutes, the art fair
became a huge enabler in the art
ecosystem. “India Art Fair has
helped create jobs for art curators,
shippers, framers, and given this
field a legitimate ‘industry’ status,”
says Kirpal. She’s had to deal
with a lot of prejudices being a
woman heading this huge event.
“We have had to deal with police,
bureaucracy, labour and contractors,
and have been stuck in some pretty
uncomfortable situations. But
we’ve always been determined to
get the work done.”
Lakshmi Pratury brought TED
to India in 2009, when the
first TEDIndia conference was
held in Mysore. Soon after she
founded INKtalks, a platform
that invites unheard voices from
across various fields to share
their success stories. “We form
a community of INKFellows
for life. We help them reach
their goals, collaborate with
them and connect them to other
fellows for further exposure,” she
says. Pratury has always been
challenging stereotypes. She got
her second MBA at Portland
University, Oregon, USA and
says, “In Oregon, I was the only
woman in my class, and one of
the few non-white people in the
room. I learned to look less at
our differences and more at what
we had in common.”
N E H A K I R P A L
LAKSHMIPRATURY
Shirt and striped cover-up,
both Anita Dongre Grassroot;
earrings, Eina Ahluwalia at Minerali;
ring, Minerali; cuff, Curio Cottage
Clothes and
jewellery,
Lakshmi’s own
Clothes and jewellery,
Neha’s own
095-BOLLYWOOD POWER PLAYERS-Darshana-R1.indd 115 22/03/16 3:57 PM