EXCLUSIVE! Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga on Yo Yo Honey Singh's documentary: 'Netflix reached out to us, everything Honey Singh did was a controversy' | Not Just Bollywood

Guneet Monga loves to take risks when it comes to making and producing films. Monga mentioned last year how the story of The Elephant Whisperers came from a personal space. Guneet’s film directed by Kartiki Gonsalves won the 2023 Oscars in the Best Documentary Shorts category. She’s now eyeing for another win for her short film Anuja. With Aamir Khan-Kiran Rao’s ‘Laapataa Ladies’ out of the race, all eyes on Guneet Monga to bring the Academy for the third time.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Guneet Monga   spoke about their third tryst with the Oscars, how women’s roles in cinema have changed and evolved, and making a documentary on singer Yo Yo Honey Singh under their banner Sikhya Entertainment.

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Edited excerpts from the interview

Guneet, what is the situation of Indian filmmaking world over for independent filmmakers? What what is it like?

It’s definitely hard because, you know, it’s expensive to go to cinemas. The P and A is expensive. I think independent filmmakers have to not only work very hard to find the money, make a good film, but then also to find their own distribution. I think a lot of innovation needs to happen in distribution at this point of time. For independent cinemas to come and thrive, it’s very hard, to be honest.

All eyes are on you, Guneet  for the Oscars. And this is going to be the 3rd time. What are your expectations from Anuja?

Guneet: We are shortlisted. We are very grateful for that. It’s a huge honour. We are hoping and working to get nominated. So we can only know it on 17th January if you’re nominated. And then we will go to the next stage of where this goes. So it’s a lot of work, you know, and even nomination is a huge, huge honour.

And what do you have to say about Anuja? A little about the the short film.

Guneet: It’s a beautiful film with two young Indian girls navigating their life, and, you know, it starts out with two men thinking that they have control on little Anuja, but in the end, it is Anuja who has control on them, and that is what I like. So it’s a very empowered film, and two beautiful characters, very well directed by Adam Graves and his wife, Suchitra, who’s the producer on it. So that team made a beautiful film. It’s their first.

Women’s roles, especially in cinema, are changing over a period of time, even on the big screen. What do you have to say about this beautiful change becoming more powerful?

Guneet: While things are happening, I do feel like there’s still a long way to go. If you see the over money report summary this year, there’s still a long way to go where, women characters can be celebrated. So the report says that there is only five percent improvement from last year to this year, with female characters had better story lines this year. There’s definitely a five percent improvement. I do feel, there’s a lot more to do.

Cinema is also changing, we’re coming close to reality. People have evolved. The audience has evolved. What do you have to say about this? Do you think people still like the typical blockbuster kind of movies and the pressure of numbers?

Achin: It’s a mixed bag. I don’t think it’s fully true. I think if I look at the market or look at the things that you can pick and choose, you know, you can talk about 1 Laapataa Ladies, one Kill, one this, one that. If you ever just name the independent Hindi films that have done well, they are very limited. So I think everyone is second guessing. I think people need to make films with a lot more confidence. But I think it is a time where we have to go back to the basic of what are the stories that really going to resonate with our audience, not thinking too much about the formula.

And I think we have the Malayalam cinema that really inspired this year, not just in terms of good storytelling, but also showing how that good storytelling converts into a great box office. I think a lot for Hindi film industry to learn from that and, you know, follow our gut, follow our confidence, and back good stories.

What is it that goes behind the thought process when you come up with these things?

Guneet: Love for storytelling, trying to ask the right questions when we are greenlighting something, be it Kill, and while we were making an extreme action film, to think how women are being portrayed in that, the biggest killing in Kill was given to two women passengers. So it’s more like in every aspect, be it Gyaarah Gyaarah. I mean, why did Sikhya or all of us do that show, because it was a mixed genre. It was otherwise a regular procedural, but because it was mixing with sci-fi, we loved it. And that’s why we wanted to do the series. And for it to be the top 4, shows this year on IMDB is incredible.

Then Kicking Balls this year that came out for Waves, which is the Prasadbharti newly launched channel, was a story about child brides finding themselves by playing football. Incredible film that is directed by Vijayeta Kumar. We were wrapping the year with Yo Yo Honey Singh, and we are really loving the comments. And, I got a huge text today from Mahesh Bhatt that’s totally made my day. It released 2 days ago, on 20th. And just as we thought we’re wrapping the year, Anuja came along.

So I think, basic instinct of green lighting stories has worked for us. And to be able to build a team, and to listen to each other, is what we do at Sikhya. And that is something that we are doubling down on.

On being a woman filmmaker and producer, how has the journey been with its ups and downs, especially being a woman producer?

Guneet: I’ve always been around 20 years. I think, everybody knows me from my work, and you pass the gender complication with success. With an Oscar, it’s about a producer winning it rather than a man or a woman. But, yes, early on, it was difficult for me to break in to get a hearing in the room or get scripts forward because I was very, very young. I feel I faced ageism more than gender in my profession. From colouring my hair white to wearing specs to wearing overgrown clothes because I thought I saw Mira Nair being dressed like that. And if you see my pictures on Instagram or if you can Google me, The Lunchbox or Gangs of Wasseypur premier at Cannes, you can see what I was wearing.

To see Kill and to see what I’m wearing now, it’s definitely been a shift in how I look at myself and what I’d like to do. I was in mid twenties back then. I’m now in my early forties, but I wanted to grow up very soon, and those are the kind of clothes that made me look serious. I have this huge complex of being young. I think both Achin and I were very, very young, so there’s a lot of effort in the room to look older.

It was quite tricky, especially if you’re not coming from money, then, it is far more challenging. I think in general to get to penetrate in this industry is tough. So ageism is one side of a lot of the things you face in the industry. But I think somewhere, the work has always spoken more than what we had to do. So luckily, that has helped.

And coming back to Netflix's Yo Yo, Honey Singh, since it’s a Sikhya Entertainment production, what is it that made you say ‘yes’ to this and then you’re going to go ahead with this docuseries documentary film?

Netflix reached out to us on this project, and then we brought Mozez Singh who’s done an incredible job on it, the direct, it’s been 3 years, and we were fascinated by Honey’s life. I mean, starting out to be fans of his music and the the skill that he went up to to disappearing, to not to being like the controversy person. Everything he did was a controversy. So if Honey was ready to bear it all, it definitely would make a great documentary. So that’s why we were excited because he was ready to talk and he was ready to tell his story and we wanted to know more and, we were always very honest that we want to know everything and we will talk about everything.