It’s Baisakhi today and for Guneet Monga, the festival is extra special this time. Reason: the two milestones that the producer has achieved on the work and personal fronts over the last few months — getting married and winning an Oscar. She is looking forward to celebrating her first Sikh New Year after marriage with her husband, entrepreneur Sunny Kapoor, in Delhi.

“This Baisakhi is extra special as I am married and have an Oscar. I also have my parents this time (referring to her in-laws). I lost my parents very early in life. So, I am looking forward to my mother-in-law feeding me the amazing things she cooks,” says Monga.

Besides “looking forward to going to the gurdwara, listening to shabads and paying my gratitude” today, the producer will also try her hand at cooking. “I make the best kada prasad,” she exclaims.

Talking about her Baisakhi rituals, Monga, who won an Academy Award for The Elephant Whisperers (2022), adds, “Baisakhi has always been all about going to the gurdwara. I would go to Bangla Sahib (a gurdwara in Delhi). Even if I wasn’t home on Baisakhi, I would manage to find a gurdwara wherever I was. I remember I was in Goa once and while all my friends were partying, I was like, ‘Mujhe gurdwara jaana hai’.”

Harking back to her childhood, she recalls how her parents would go all out in doing sewa on Baisakhi. “They taught me all the things I do on the day of the festival. From having langar to making phirni at home — we kept the rituals quite simple. The idea of sewa was inculcated in me by my parents. I would see my parents make a lot of food or get it made by someone. Then, my dad would load all that on a truck and distribute food items like kheer, chole, samosas to people. The day is all about gratitude,” Monga ends.

Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga, who is set to tie the knot with her partner Sunny Kapoor on December 12, took to her social media on Monday to share how she always wanted a Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge-like romance, and had been searching for her ‘Raj’ (played by Shah Rukh Khan) since she turned 18. Though she may have found her ‘real-life hero’ late in life, she described their love as “everything”.

“Like every girl growing up in the 90s, I too have been on a constant lookout for my Raj ever since I was 18. Anyone I dated, I ran to my friends to tell them this is it, I found my partner for the rest of my life. Some even indulged me a couple of times but mostly rolled their eyes and wanted to say, ‘Guneet please just take your time’. I never wanted to take my time, my magical forever started from Day 1. I was ready to commit from Day 1 (sic),” she wrote.

Guneet continued, “Everyone would always tell me, at the right time the right person will come into my life, and this irritated me the most! Why on earth has my time not come? Ab toh chaalis saal hogaye, actually 39 but a round figure sounds better na...”

Guneet – whose film Period. End Of Sentence. won the award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 91st Academy Awards – added, “Honestly, I have cursed my body, my intelligence, my way of talking, my education, my middle-class life and even my job designation to be able to find someone!”

Referencing DDLJ again, she wrote, “Wait, did I tell you, I have also tried missing the last Euro train but wahan pe door automatic shut hotey hain and no one keeps their hand out to pull you in! Haath kat jayenge behenon!”

“My dear girlfriends, can I tell you, when the time is right and when that person comes into your life, you just know it. When he shows you how much YOU mean to him. That kind of love is everything,” wrote Guneet, adding, “Aur phir meri real life ki picture mein, mera real hero aa gaya! And while he is sure of me, this time, I am in self-doubt. Really, you love me? Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me? Someone who is in the film industry, living in Bombay and half balding. With tears in his eyes, Sunny said, ‘you are perfect and I am so lucky that you are mine and the universe made you wait for us!’”

She concluded her note by writing, “Today marks a year of our Roka and we now count down to our wedding which is exactly seven days from now. As cliché as it sounds, when the time is right, the universe makes it happen. I’ve found my Raj! Bade bade deshon mein chhoti chhoti baatein, hoti rehti hain…”

“It is like making five films in one go,” quips Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga while describing the prep for her forthcoming wedding with entrepreneur Sunny Kapoor. The couple will get married in Mumbai on December 12, and a few functions will be held in Delhi.

“Mumbai has given me a home even though I was born and brought up in Delhi. Since I am too filmi, I said, ‘Aapko doli toh mere ghar se hi le kar jaani padegi’. That’s how Mumbai was decided,” says the 39-year-old.

Asked if she has turned into a bridezilla, Monga says that more than her, her sisters have turned into sisterzillas: “They are protective of me. But I’m having a blast. I’m still being a producer; I’m producing the whole wedding.” 

Monga met Kapoor through a dating app, and she says that “Sunny is the manifestation of everything” she wanted in life. “There’s a picture of Sunny and me with his parents, where we are holding photos of my parents. That’s everything in life,” shares Monga, who lost her parents when she was 23.

Acclaimed filmmaker Guneet Monga, who has produced Bafta nominated and Oscar winning productions, is all set to tie the knot in December with Sunny Kapoor in Mumbai. In June this year, Guneet staged her wedding with Sunny, a Delhi-based businessman and fashion entrepreneur, a few weeks after their engagement in April, to fulfil the wishes of Sunny’s grandmother, whose health was deteriorating due to cancer. Though she passed away a few weeks after their staged wedding, the couple was happy that they could plan this for her.

The Delhi-born filmmaker will finally tie the knot with her fiancé Sunny next month. A source told BT, “The couple is going to have a Mumbai wedding on December 11 and 12, which will be followed by extended functions in Delhi on December 16. Since both Monga and Kapoor are Punjabis, guests can expect a big fat Punjabi wedding with naach-gaana, a fun-filled mehendi and sangeet ceremony.”

Guneet told BT, “Having once staged a whole wedding for dadi ji, we are now set to tie the knot for real. Though I was born and brought up in Delhi, my whole life is now in Mumbai, my karma bhoomi. I have found friends like family here. All the ceremonies will be in Mumbai with a reception in Delhi.”

She added, “Ever since I was 18, I wanted to get married and I finally met Sunny last year on a dating app. He is an extremely simple and loving man. He is my biggest cheerleader and my biggest critic. Even though I met him only last year, I can surely say I’m marrying my best friend and I am so grateful to have found a family that is so loving and giving. Since I lost both my parents at the age of 23, I have dreamt of having a big family and I am so excited that my dream is all set to come true. I can’t wait to end the year with a big bang.”

Guneet, who was an executive producer of the documentary Period. End of Sentence. won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2019. As a producer, she has also backed some critically acclaimed films such as Gangs Of Wasseypur, The Lunchbox, Masaan, Zubaan and Pagglait.