Guneet Monga to produce film starring Sanya Malhotra

Sanya Malhotra

A coming-of-age film with actress Sanya Malhotra is on the cards for producer Guneet Monga of Oscar-winning short documentary "Period. End of Sentence." fame.

"We are doing a Hindi film. It's a film with Sanya Malhotra. It's a coming of age story of a young girl in a small town," Monga told IANS here on the sidelines of a screening of "Period. End of Sentence." organised by Netflix at The American Centre.

Delhi is a common factor between the producer and actress, who has been noticed for "Dangal", "Pataakha", "Badhaai Ho" and "Photograph".

While Monga is awaiting to join creative forces with the "amazing" talent that Sanya is, she also has plans to expand her footprints into regional cinema.

She has already taken a step ahead with Tamil film "Soorarai Pottru", featuring superstar Suriya. It is being directed by Sudha Kongara. Monga, who leads Sikhya Entertainment, had a childlike excitement speaking of the project.

"It is incredible to work with Suriya, Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian and Sudha. And it's great that I am working with another woman director (after collaborating with Rayka Zehtabchi for 'Period...'). It is a different experience because I don't understand the language, but also because everyone is really happy and respectful.

"I love going to the sets. We all speak in English, but I don't understand the dialogues. But we all understand the language of cinema. We have shot for a week, and now there is a schedule break and we will start again in a couple of weeks and then we go on three months of shoot," Monga said.

Malayalam and Gujarati films may also be on the anvil. "It's a vision we are putting out in the universe and saying 'one at a time'," she said, adding that something may also be in development in the web space. For Monga, the fact that "Period. End of Sentence." released on streaming platform Netflix, was quite a game-changer.

"Netflix is changing the world. With 'Period...', they really made us reach out to 190 countries. The conversation has become very large and it has empowered us in many ways. I used to be very anxious about distribution at Cannes, distribution elsewhere... We were way ahead of our time. Now is the time when one can get out there and make an independent film because there's a Netflix. 'Masaan' and 'Zubaan' have all got rediscovered by the digital world," she said.

The screening of "Period. End of Sentence" here was followed by a discussion on approaches to better menstrual hygiene management in India.

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates