Guneet Monga attends News18 Rising India Summit in New Delhi.
Guneet Monga also blamed ‘years of patriarchy’ for fewer female filmmakers in the industry.
Oscar-winning The Elephant Whisperers’ producer Guneet Monga attended the News18 Rising India Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, March 29. During the session, the filmmaker talked about several things including her documentary’s historic success, love for Shah Rukh Khan and female directors in the industry.
When asked how difficult it is for women directors to break into the industry, Guneet mentioned that only 5 percent of the directors are female and hoped that her Oscar victory will inspire other women in the field.
“I am determined (to bring about a change). In my entire power of being a producer and 16 years of work, Sikhya (Guneet’s production house) is determined to and I think a large part of Netflix too, is also promoting that so we’re determined to have more and more female creators and open doors, and I hope Karthiki (Gonsalves, filmmaker) and my journey inspires more women to just pick up the camera,” she said.
Guneet blamed ‘years of patriarchy’ for fewer female filmmakers in the industry but argued that things are changing especially after the ‘Me Too’ movement. “It’s definitely improved, there are many amazing women. I think, post the MeToo movement, definitely, it’s improved,” she shared. She also urged all female filmmakers not to look at each other as a competition but as a support.
“It’s really important to celebrate each other. For far too long we’ve been told that you’re each other’s competition. It’s either you or her. Now it’s all of us and all of us at once because there are enough and more jobs and there is enough and more work and the more we celebrate each other in the rooms that we’re not, the more we will get opportunities,” Guneet told us. She concluded by saying that it is now ‘time to just celebrate each other’ in other to bring more change in the industry in the coming years.
