Pagglait

A feature film that made us sit up & enjoy the journey of the protagonist. Sania Malhotra in the lead is a delight to watch. She never professes but chooses her own way to live after her husband’s untimely demise.

The producer Guneet Monga who took 14 years to make the film under Sikhya Entertainment, says a lot about her journey. To understand filmmaking, she worked every opportunity around the set. No role was big or small. Nothing was above or beneath & every job taught me something new, she says.

Today she is in a position where she can help build an environment where women feel empowered & valued enough to be able to share their perspective without feeling sidelined. It is our voices that make us who we are & I’m hopeful that over the next 25 years, our film industries become places where women & all underrepresented communities can share theirs & be heard, she believes.

A 2015 BAFTA nominee for ‘The Lunchbox’ & founder of Sikhya Entertainment a boutique film production that produced notable films like Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1&2, Peddlers, The Lunchbox, Massan, Zubaan, Pagglait.

She was voted one of the top 12 woman achievers in the global entertainment industry by The Hollywood reporter & among the top 50 Indians changing India by India Today.

Her Filmography begins with ‘Say Salaam India’ in 2007 till ‘Kathal’ 2023 till date. As an actress we can see her in ‘Love, Wrinkle free’ 2012.

As a 26 year lod producer, I started wearing zero power spectacles, putting on sarees & colouring my hair grey, just to be able to voice my opinion & be taken seriously, she says. It was n’t easy getting people to treat me as a man’s equal when it came to business. It took me a while to speak in professional group settings- often I would text my opinion. I would later wonder whether I should have said something – classic imposter syndrome.

Don’t we find ourselves here? But the good story is she rose above it all & achieved all, there for us to see. Believe in yourself & see the miracle happen!