In this conversation at the 79th Festival de Cannes, Anupama Chopra sits down with Guneet Monga Kapoor — Oscar-winning producer, founder of Sikhya Entertainment, and head of Women in Film India, which marks its first anniversary this month. Guneet reflects on a year of building WIF India from the ground up, growing it to 3,500+ members, and partnering with the Marché du Film to send four women producers to Cannes this year (up from three last year) across the impACT Lab and Producers Network programs. She speaks candidly about why India's presence at Cannes has been muted this year compared to the highs of Payal Kapadia and Homebound, tracing it back to a 100% equity-driven financing model that leaves no room for innovation, independent voices, or risk-taking — and offers a hustler's playbook for how filmmakers can navigate it through co-productions, crowdfunding, and treaties. Guneet also opens up about Sikhya Entertainment's transformation into a mini-studio following Jio Studios' investment, and her strategic pivot toward genre filmmaking — sci-fi, horror, action — after the global success of Kill. She reveals that Sikhya's first film as a studio is a Tamil project with Karthik Subbaraj, with three more women-led genre films going on floors this year, alongside the spy comedy Udta Teer with Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan, releasing 11 September 2026. Across the conversation, Guneet returns to what fuels her — being a perennial student of cinema at Cannes, the global peer group that fuels her soul, and her conviction that upskilling women into HOD positions is a multi-decade project worth every ounce of the hustle. #GuneetMonga #Cannes2026 #WomenInFilmIndia