Guneet Monga Awarded With Second Highest Civilian French Honour

Celebrities like Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Bruce Willis have earlier received the honour

Filmmaker Guneet Monga

(Photo Courtesy: The Quint)

Acclaimed filmmaker Guneet Monga to be conferred with the honour of the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans I'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). It is the second highest civilian French honour and has earlier been awarded to big Hollywood names like Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Bruce Willis.

She established the production company Sikhya Entertainment, in 2008, which has helmed multiple critically acclaimed projects attached to its name including That Girl in Yellow Boots, The Lunchbox, Masaan, Monsoon Shootout, and Oscar award-winning documentary Period, End of Sentence. The latest project added to that last was Umesh Bist's Pagglait starring Sanya Malhotra.

Guneet isn't just popular in India, she's made quite a name for herself internationally as well. She was one of the first Indian producers to be inducted in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an organization committed to advancing the arts. Her film The Lunchbox was nominated under the 'Best Film Not in the English Language' at BAFTA, and for 'Best Picture- Feature' at the Dubai International Film Festival.

A still from 'The Lunchbox'

In an effort to support Indian female content creators, she co-founded Indian Women Rising along with Ekta Kapoor and Tahira Kashyap. The cinema collective supported, as executive producer, Karishma Dev Dube's Bittu which was shortlisted for an Oscar. She will be felicitated by the Ambassador of France to India in ceremony in Delhi on 13 April.

Other Indian celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Nandita Das, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Anurag Kashyap, and Kalki Koechlin have also been felicitated with the honour.