“Manthan,” which brought the inspirational Amul narrative to life on film, will be shown at Cannes; Big B gives it high marks

May 17, Cannes, France: Over the decades since its establishment, the Indian cinema industry has had several high points. One of the many classic films on celluloid that helped establish the business internationally was Shyam Benegal’s ‘Manthan’. The movie drew inspiration from Verghese Kurien’s groundbreaking milk cooperative movement, which spearheaded “Operation Flood,” which turned India from a milk-deficient nation into the world’s largest producer of milk and dairy products.

The billion-dollar brand “Amul” was founded by the visionary social entrepreneur who also made Gujarat the world’s dairy capital. With its groundbreaking metamorphosis of celluloid, the film will go down in Indian cinema history—which has been there for almost a century—in golden letters.

The iconic feature drama from Benegal, which was crowdfunded by five lakh Gujarati farmers, is about to take the world by storm once again. The movie, which stars Naseeruddin Shah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Girish Karnad, and the late Smita Patil, will be presented on Friday at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

This year’s Cannes Classic section of the festival will include just one Indian film, the 1976 production that has been restored in 4K.

More importantly, ‘Manthan’ is scheduled to debut in Cannes a few days after Amul celebrates its golden jubilee.

“Manthan” is the third film in a row to be restored by the Film Heritage Foundation, a non-profit established by archivist and director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur prior to its premiere at Cannes, one of the world’s most esteemed film festivals.

Naseeruddin Shah, the late Smita Patil’s family, the film’s producers, and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of the Film Heritage Foundation will all be present for the Cannes premiere of the repaired version of the movie.

“I was absolutely delighted when Shivendra told me that the Film Heritage Foundation was going to restore ‘Manthan’ in collaboration with the Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.,” Benegal said, clearly thrilled about the showing. “Manthan” is a movie that has a special place in my heart since it was made possible by 500,000 farmers and played a pivotal role in the development of an amazing cooperative movement that sought to liberate farmers from the oppressive constraints of caste and economic inequity. It will serve as a reminder to the world of both the significance of the great Verghese Kurien, the Father of the White Revolution, and the ability of film to effect change. I have been carefully monitoring the repair with Govind Nihalani, and I am astounded by the methodical approach used to the restoration. It’s amazing to see the movie come to life, almost as if we just finished it.”

“The Film Heritage Foundation has been restoring films in a really impressive manner. The renowned director said, “Not only are they masterfully conserving films from every part of India, but they’re also bringing them back to the public at festivals and screenings around the globe in a way that showcases our unique film heritage to contemporary global audiences.”

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan is also looking forward to the special “Manthan” showing at Cannes. A few days ago, the Big B expressed his appreciation for the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) and its dedication to conserving India’s film heritage on his X account.

“We are really happy that the Film Heritage Foundation will be showcasing a global premiere of Shyam Benegal’s stunning restoration of “Manthan,” which had riveting performances from an amazing cast that included Smita Patil, at the Cannes Film Festival for the third consecutive year. From his X account, Bachchan commented, “It’s just amazing the work that the Film Heritage Foundation does to preserve, restore, and showcase the best of India’s film heritage to the world.”

Naseeruddin Shah, who will be present at the Cannes film festival, also shared details of his ‘Manthan’ experience.

“It was Shyam Benegal who directed both ‘Nishant’ and ‘Manthan’, which launched my acting career. When it was first published about 50 years ago, “Manthan” was an enormous hit and is still well-known today. I recall living in the hut, learning how to milk a buffalo, and preparing cow dung cakes while “Manthan” was being filmed. To capture the character’s physique, I would bring the buckets and offer the milk to the unit. I’m overjoyed that the Film Heritage Foundation has lovingly and meticulously restored both this amazing movie and the short film produced with the farmers’ help. The elderly screen star said, “I am so happy that I will be there to present it myself. The film will premiere in its second life at the Cannes Film Festival, as it deserves to be, thanks to the persistence, hard work, and efforts of the Film Heritage Foundation.”

The movie, which takes place in Gujarat, was the first in Indian history to be fully financed by 500,000 farmers, who each contributed Rs 2. Vijay Tendulkar and Kurien wrote the film’s screenplay together. In 1977, “Manthan” took home two National Film Awards: Best Hindi Feature Film and Best Screenplay for Tendulkar. In addition, it served as India’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1976.

“I am so delighted that the Film Heritage Foundation will have a world premiere of another one of our restorations of an Indian classic at the Cannes Film Festival for the third year in a row after ‘Thamp’ in 2022 and ‘Ishanou’ in 2023,” said Dungarpur, the director of the organization that restored the classic film from Benegal. Since Shyam Benegal is one of India’s most renowned directors and his early work was crucial to the country’s parallel cinema movement, the restoration of one of his films has long been a goal of the Film Heritage Foundation.”

“Manthan is not only one of his best movies from that era, but its backstory is even more remarkable: 500,000 farmers gave Rs. 2 to help make the movie, which told the tale of the beginning of the milk cooperative movement and touched on a variety of topics including caste, class, gender, and economic discrimination. The movie played a key role in establishing the movement and its illustrious reputation, as well as in educating farmers nationwide about the advantages of the cooperative movement. Working together with Govind Nihalani and Shyam Benegal to meticulously revive the picture has been an amazing experience, particularly throughout the restoration phase. The story’s potency and the performers’ riveting performances—especially Smita Patil’s—remain powerful over fifty years later. He said, “I wish she was here to see the beauty of the repair.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to begin on May 14 and end on May 25.