Director Adam J Graves and Indian producer Guneet Monga discuss the journey of 'Anuja', the Hindi film nominated for Oscars 2025 under Best Live Action Short section.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Mindy Kaling and Guneet Monga-backed Anuja, a short film set in New Delhi, lost the Oscar for Best Live Action Short to the Dutch-language film I’m Not a Robot on February 2.

Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga-backed 'Anuja', a New Delhi-set short film, which was nominated in the Live Action Short Category at Oscars 2025, lost the prestigious award to Dutch-language film 'I'm Not a Robot'.

The third time was not the charm for Guneet Monga and the short film Anuja which she co-produced through her banner Sikhya Entertainment. Earlier, she produced Rayka Zehtabchi's Period. End of Sentence in 2019 and Kartiki Gonsalves's The Elephant Whisperers in 2023 both went on to win the Best Documentary Short trophies at the Oscars.

The duo sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about bringing nuance and humor to their affecting tale of child labor in India and the surprising global reception to their film: "I don't think anybody anticipated that we'd be getting this kind of attention.

Hours after short film "Anuja" lost out on the Best Live Action Short Oscar, producer Guneet Monga on Monday said she joined the project not only to support the filmmakers but also to amplify the voices of children.

New Delhi-set coming-of-age short film that was competing at the Oscars 2025 in the Best Live Action Short category, lost out on the award to Dutch-language movie I'm Not a Robot.I'm Not a Robot is a science fiction film written and directed by Victoria Warmerdam.