02012025-LSTL-01.qxd 1/1/2025 11:43 PM Page 1 c m y b NEW JOURNEY FOR ABHAY Abhay Deol shared a snapshot of his first day of 2025 aboard a plane. Along with the photo, Abhay wrote, “Happy New Year! 1st day and I’m already on a plane. Here’s to a brand new start, to new journeys, new adventures, to heartbreaks and heart makes (whatever that is!). #HappyNewYear.” Awards and rewards are a byproduct of your choices, say Guneet Monga Kapoor and her Sikhya Entertainment cofounder Achin Jain. Their film Anuja has been shortlisted for Oscars in the Live Action Short Film category TRIBUNE Happy start Life Katrina Kaif took to Instagram to wish Happy New Year to her fans. On the first day of 2025, the actress shared pictures on Instagram and captioned it with “2024 End 2025 Happy New Year !!!” LUDHIANA | THURSDAY | 2 JANUARY 2025 ‘We set our own standards’ Nonika Singh H USTLE might not be a word you would associate with Oscar winning producer Guneet Monga Kapoor as she once again makes news on the international stage. Anuja, a liveaction short film, which she has executive produced has been shortlisted for Oscars. But she and Achin Jain, co-founder of her Sikhya Entertainment, share how hustle, oodles of hard work, years of love for storytelling across formats coupled with karma is what have led them down the victory path. All the way to the prestigious Oscars, previously won for Period: End of Sentence, and The Elephant Whisperers. What makes the academy awards so significant, especially in the Indian context? Guneet comes up with one-liner, “whole of India watches it.” Achin, however, is more elaborate and shares, “If you look at the run up to the awards from Palme d’Or at Cannes to Golden Globes, internationally Oscars are the culmination point.” Anuja, a tale of nine-year-old, working in a garment factory who suddenly faces a life altering choice, has already been to many festivals and won several awards too. But that does not mean there is really a formula to winning an Oscar. Their instinctive gut feeling tells them which stories and story tellers to back. Back in time when she produced The Lunchbox, surprisingly there were no takers for the beautiful film in India. Those of us who are wondering how can her Sikhya Entertainment and Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions come together. For on the face of it aren’t their sensibilities like chalk and cheese. But she begs to differ and reminds us how when no one was ready to distribute The Lunchbox, Karan Johar came on board and made it a huge success in India. She adds, “We both back good cinema… period.” In fact, in future she intends to double down her ‘empowering’ partnership with him. If this year they have collaborated for two successful projects Gyaarah Gyaarah and Kill, up next is a thriller series starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan. Interestingly, for a woman who beamed at the Oscars, “We as two women from India stood on that global stage making this historical win,” also believes in the philosophy of “one woman What is quintessentially Punjabi about Guneet Monga Kapoor is her love for food and Gurbani. There are many shabads that she lives by but in particular Lakh Khusiyan and Raajan ke Raja are very close to her heart. putting the other forward.’ So, how does her partnership with member of the opposite gender Achin work? Achin’s tongue-in-cheek response is, “If Guneet remains 70,000 feet high in the sky then I am 35,000 feet under the ground. Amidst our many fights for the same cause we find a meeting ground.” What about her promise that she will get us an Oscar for a feature film? She laughs, “Right The name of her production house Sikhya too comes from her Punjabi roots and her core philosophy is to be forever in the learning mode. “You become stagnant when you stop learning,” she says. now a lot of praying is happening.” No prizes for guessing, her ‘gyaarah gyaarah’ wish is another Oscar, for Anuja, produced by Mindy Kaling among others. Can Guneet manifest it again for 1.4 billion Indians? Fingers crossed. The first test will be on January 17 when the Oscar nominations will be out. And even making it to the final five, says Guneet, will be an honour. 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