Guneet Monga says her ‘heart started racing’ after she was cut off during Oscars, was unaware winners after her weren’t stopped

Asked how she felt about being cut off, and particularly about realising that the white men who won after her weren’t, she said, “It came as a shock to me… I was just getting ready to say something, and then the music started. Then I ended up screaming at the entire orchestra level, with all the amazing filmmakers sitting at the ground floor, and I was like, ‘This is India’s first Oscar, for an Indian film!’ The ground floor started cheering, I had my moment, but unfortunately it wasn’t telecast.”

She continued, “And then we walked away and my heart started racing. Coming so far, manifested this for so long… In a split second, my heart was racing. Then, there was a backstage camera, which I didn’t know anything about… I didn’t know there was another category after us, and there were two men representing it, and they spoke.”

Guneet won the Oscar alongside The Elephant Whisperers director Kartiki Gonsalves. It was a big night for India overall, with MM Keeravani and Chandrabose winning the best original song Oscar for Naatu Naatu, and director Shaunak Sen scoring a nomination for his documentary feature All That Breathes. Previously, MM Keeravani had said in an interview with Galatta Plus that Guneet needed to be hospitalised for breathlessness after the incident.