Guneet Monga: When the stats of the O Womaniya report came out, we realised that less than 3% of women are directors, less than 8% HODs

Time of India

28-05-2025

Guneet Monga
Guneet Monga
launched Women in Film India (WIF India) with a fully sponsored fellowship to the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), a New York-based initiative for indie filmmakers. 'I wanted to begin WIF India with a programme that supported me and sponsored me to commence The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), a New York-based independent filmmakers project,' she says.
'Attending producers' network was a career high for me'
As part of the IFP's Producers' Network in 2011, Guneet learned the mechanics of co-productions. She says,'This was in 2011, and that informed me on how to structure films and learn about co-productions, only to realise that India had signed a co-production treaty with France in 1985,' she recalls. That knowledge proved crucial when she used the treaty to produce The Lunchbox in 2012.
'The producers' network propelled me and accelerated my exposure, knowledge, and know-how to be able to step in, construct them, and build a corporation.
It was definitely a career high for me, and The Lunchbox did change our lives. It also put India on the map. We were nominated with The Lunchbox, and it was selected in Cannes in 2013 and was globally loved and represented,' Guneet says.
It was like an eye-opener about the power of access - what happens when you're allowed to step outside the conventional system and acquire practical know-how.
'That's what led me to think that there should be more people learning this and having more access to the knowledge,' Guneet says.
And honestly, I also miss a peer group
The numbers from the O Womaniya! report revealed a staggering gender gap. She says, 'And honestly, I also miss a peer group. Less than 3% of women are directors, and across all the sectors, we are less than 8% of all heads of departments.'
She adds, 'I thought it was time to do something about this, and there was a lack of structure to even build equity or have something that one can do individually. It needs to be an institutional eye.
It needs to be institutionalised and be our organisational approach.'
The goal, she says, is to build a foundation. 'With the setting up of Women in Film, the idea is to build a structure and a structured way of building knowledge, know-how in skill development, and exposure that is otherwise easily available to filmmakers around the world. It's time to bring that to Indian filmmaking.'
How Tillotama Shome, Rucha Pathak, and Dimpy Agrawal who were selected to attend the festival's Producers' Network
WIF India's debut at Cannes 2025 includes three producers - Tillotama Shome, Rucha Pathak, and Dimpy Agrawal who were selected to attend the festival's Producers' Network, each on a full scholarship.
The selection was made through a nomination process led by WIF India's advisory board.
Guneet explains,'Women in Film India has an incredible board. All the board members came together to nominate women producers as part of our selection process. We reached out to approximately 10 women producers who met the criteria and produced films. The producers' networking can is a mid-career program. There is an eligibility criterion that anybody applying for this needs to have produced films before at least one or two films before as a producer or a co-producer credit.
'
Each shortlisted candidate was required to fill out a questionnaire outlining their goals for the program. What made the three selected producers stand out was that they had real, in-progress projects that would benefit from the support available at Cannes.
She says,'All three of them had active projects that they could bring to the plan and had projects that they needed hands-on support with in terms of sales agent, in terms of sales.'
It was during this process that Women in Film LA came onboard to formalise a tie-up with the India chapter. 'That is where Women in Film LA supported us and reached out to us to forge an official tie-up for Women in Film India.'
This partnership resulted in three fully funded seats at the seven-day Producers' Network at Cannes. 'It was a 100% scholarship for these three women to come here and attend the 7-day producers' network at Cannes,' Guneet says.
WIF India also awarded an accreditation grant to producer Shefali Bhushan, the creative force behind the acclaimed film Sthal.
WIF India is new, raw, and small, but with a very large ambition
At its core, WIF India is still in its taking baby steps, but Guneet believes the stakes couldn't be higher. 'It's just born, new, raw, and small, but with a very large ambition,' she says. 'I hope the future is bright. I hope we can run several skill development labs with the support of the industry and a lot of international programs. We are constantly learning from the kind of programs available around the world, and the idea is to bring them to India to enable easy access to knowledge, resources, and opportunities here that are otherwise available only to international filmmakers.
'
Check out our list of the
latest Hindi
,
English
,
Tamil
,
Telugu
,
Malayalam
, and
Kannada movies
. Don't miss our picks for the
best Hindi movies
,
best Tamil movies,
and
best Telugu films
.