The Future Ai

Guneet Monga with her former principal Suman Kumar

Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga recently returned to her alma mater, Bluebells International School, where she spent a day engaging with students, teachers, and her former principal, Suman Kumar.Invited for an interactive session during a recent visit to Delhi, Monga fielded a wide range of questions — from the inner workings of the film industry to the making of The Elephant Whisperers and her journey to the Oscars. The documentary made history at the 95th Academy Awards, becoming the first Indian-produced film to win in the Best Documentary Short category.Speaking to students, Monga reflected on how her school years shaped her creative instincts. She credited Bluebells for encouraging extracurricular pursuits and nurturing independent thinking. “It’s an honor to represent our school and relive the memories and experiences that played a pivotal role in making me who I am today,” she said.Recounting her early career, Monga described working on international productions filming in India — handling logistics and assisting crews navigating permissions and locations. It was during this period that she met filmmaker Gregg Helvey, who was making a student film titled Kavi.Kavi went on to win a Student Academy Award and was later nominated at the 2010 Oscars — an early brush with global recognition that came with its own challenges.She said, “I used to also help a lot of people who were coming from outside India to shoot films. And in that, I met this wonderful young director. Woh apni US se college film bana rahe thay jiska naam tha Kavi. And he didn’t really have enough money. And I just knew the work, and I was happy to help him.So, I became a producer on that film. His name is Gregg Helvey. With him we became poets. They are still editing in the US. This is how I worked in many projects. Later in 2009, that film student Oscar Jeet sang. And just like our film Ne Student won the Oscar, which was nominated for the 2010 Oscar – in top five.So, suddenly, in 2010 — I had a film that was nominated for Oscar. And of course, I produced it. I had worked on it. I helped make that film. But his post-production journey was in America.So I have good news – we have won the Oscar. Then I got good news – we are in top five. And it was beautiful and magical. But I had no money. I had nothing. And I just had this little dream that I have to go to America and attend. If your film is going to be in Oscar, then you have to attend.”Monga shared candidly that she lacked the financial means to attend the ceremony. With just weeks to spare, she reached out widely for support, even writing to prominent figures such as Richard Branson, Vijay Mallya, and Ratan Tata.She shared, “Toh ye raha hai two days without any success. Toh buut hi aise frustration tha ki nahi pata kab America ka visa hoga? Kaise hoga? In that frustration, I wrote to the then President of India — honorable Mrs. Pratibha Patil ji. And I sent an email to their office and said – ‘I’m proud of India. We are nominated for an Oscar, we would love to speak to you.”She then described how that outreach eventually led from a Rashtrapati Bhawan invite to landing in Los Angeles.She told the students, “I landed in LA, and the first thing I did was to go to Gurudwara. And I spoke to bhaiji there, and I said — ‘mujhe apni picture dikhani hai’.”Reflecting on her journey through the Oscars over the years, she shared, “Aur wahan uppar kar aayein 2010 mein mera sapna tha ek baar neeche toh jaoon jaoon ek baar. Meaning eye-to-eye lein — itni door se chaal kar aayein hain. Aur phir jab — Period. End of Sentence. I sat one more floor below and then attended the jab sitting one more floor below.Then the dream was that what does the world look like from here – from the stage – how does this theater look? So, that I was able to experience in The Elephant Whisperers.”

Guneet Monga interacted with students

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