Guneet Monga wrote emails to Ratan Tata, Richard Branson to sponsor her ticket to Oscars in 2009

Guneet Monga

Guneet Monga made history winning the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards last year. However, her first time at the biggest film awards in the world was 15 years ago, when her short film Kavi won the Student Academy Award - Narrative in 2009.

She has been to the Oscars multiple times since then, but how she got there the first time is a fascinating story. Guneet narrated during Mid-day's Bombay Film Story podcast, "It's a crazy story how I got there. I actually didn't have any money. I was super broke and coming out of a huge personal tragedy. I just got this news from the director that we've won the student Oscar and we are nominated in the top 5. I was like, wow, I'd just like to attend."

'Wrote emails to rich people asking for sponsorship'

"Na visa tha, na kuch tha, na pata tha kaise jaana hai. It was an ambition to go but didn't know how. Every day I would write emails to textbook rich people like Richard Branson, Ratan Tata, that I am Guneet Monga, the pride of India, my film is nominated for an Oscar. Do you think you can sponsor my ticket? Do you think you can help me with the stay or something?"

She continued, "I wrote to all airlines including Air India, British Airways. I used to write 10 emails every day, just asking for support. And some people replied. Kingfisher said that we only fly domestic, and I was like, well, maybe you have a partner airline. Air India said it's not possible. British Airways said, but if you ever come for BAFTA, we can help you. Fair enough. That also happened for The Lunchbox (nominated for BAFTA awards)."

Wrote to the President of India

"But then I got really frustrated and wrote to the President of India, the honorable Mrs Pratibha Patil. And I got a call back from her office. I said, ‘Do you think we can come to Rashtrapati Bhavan and show the film?' I really wanted to take Sagar with us, the boy who played Kavi and, the first AD who made the film happen with Greg Helvey - Vikram Chandra. So I had to always fundraise for three people."

Guneet wanted to take the film's whole crew to Rashtrapati Bhavan. She asked them for an invitation letter, which she could then show to Kingfisher and ask for tickets. She asked for 24 tickets, but they agreed to give only 12. "So I said, instead of 12 return tickets, give us 24 one-way tickets. We will return by train. The lady on the other side laughed. They were very kind. So 24 of us went to Delhi."

"Mrs. Pratibha Patil was very busy with the budget and could not see the film. I was very upset. But then I met Science and Technology Minister Mr. Prithviraj Chauhan there and he said, why don't you come to my house and show it to me? He invited a few more ministers and the screening happened there. He actually really liked the film and he said, what do you need? How can I support? That conversation led to me saying that visa bhi nahi hai, tickets too. He called up Air India. Everything then worked out one after another."