Guneet Monga, the Oscar-winning producer of the documentary The Elephant Whisperers, has returned to India after attending the 95th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Guneet was greeted warmly by a large crowd of friends and fans at the Mumbai airport in the early hours of Friday. She also spoke with journalists stationed outside the airport.
Guneet Monga was seen in a video being welcomed in the traditional manner, with garlands, a tika (mark on the forehead), a plate of sweets, and a small lamp. People showered flower petals on Guneet as they thanked her. She also nodded and thanked the people who had come to greet her at the airport. As she smiled, several people hugged her.
Guneet was dressed in a green satin shirt and matching trousers. She also wore a long black coat with matching boots. “We had a lot of competition,” Guneet said of his historic Oscar win, according to news agency ANI. Another film in our category was backed by Malala (Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai). Our film outgrown countries and ages…the kind of love we’re receiving from around the world, the film worked its magic.”
Guneet and director Kartiki Gonsalves made history when their project The Elephant Whisperers won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film in 2023. The 41-minute film tells the story of two orphaned elephant calves who are placed in the care of mahouts Bomman and Bellie in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
Guneet posted her initial reaction to the win on Twitter, writing, “We just won the first-ever Oscar for an Indian Production!” This was accomplished by two women! “I’m still shaking.” Haul Out, How Do You Measure A Year, The Martha Mitchell Effect, and Stranger At The Gate were all nominated alongside The Elephant Whisperers.
Guneet has won her second Oscar Award. Her first Oscar was in 2019 for the documentary short film Period: End of Sentence, directed by Iranian American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabch, which follows a group of local women in Kathikera village in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, as they learn how to operate a machine that produces low-cost, biodegradable sanitary pads, which they sell to other women at reasonable prices.
