Want to back socially relevant projects: Guneet Monga

With films like "The Lunchbox" and "Peddlers" to her credit, Guneet Monga has become a force behind independent Indian films and the producer says she wants to back socially relevant cinema.
Guneet, who started her production stint with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, went on to open her own production house Sikhya Entertainment in 2008 and has been backing content-driven films ever since.
"I always wanted to make something socially relevant which impacts our life. The passion to back films like 'Masaan', 'Zubaan', 'Haramkhor' and others came from the directors.
"We did not think about the commercial success of the films. I think today the market is so well that films like 'Badlapur' and 'NH10' have done well. We can now present films of such league," Guneet told PTI.

The producer feels the commercial success of a project depends on the budget put during the making of the film.
Sighting example of her most successful film "The Lunchbox", she said, "The film didn't made Rs 100 crore but it was the best ROI (Return on Investment) in 2014."

She has four of her most ambitious projects --"Haramkhor", "Peddlers", "Khoya" and "Monsoon Shootout" at this year's Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer "Haraamkhor" and "Peddlers", starring Gulshan Devaiah and Nimrat Kaur, is crowd-funded.
"The sole reason to crowd fund these films was because I wanted to gather a group of visionaries, who wanted to make good cinema without caring about earning money.

"I feel 'Peddlers' and 'Haraamkhor' are going to be extremely profitable projects as the market has now increased. And that for me is commercial success," she said.