With the screening of filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s film ‘Manthan’ at the ongoing 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening, every fan of Indiana cinema beamed with pride.
Inspired by the pioneering milk cooperative movement of Verghese Kurien, who led ‘Operation Flood’, transforming India from a milk-deficient country to the world’s biggest producer of milk and dairy products, ‘Manthan’ was released in 1976 and featured late actor Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah.
The visionary social entrepreneur, who turned Gujarat into the global dairy capital, was also the founder of the billion-dollar brand ‘Amul’. The film bringing this revolutionary transformation on celluloid features in golden letters on the pages of the history of Indian cinema, which has been around for more than 100 years.
The screening saw the presence of Naseeruddin Shah, his wife Ratna Pathak Shah, Prateik Babbar, actor and son of Smita Patil, Nirmala Kurien, daughter of the legendary Dr Verghese Kurien, Father of the White Revolution, Anita Patil Deshmukh and Manya Patil Seth, sisters of Smita Patil, and Dr Jayen Mehta, Managing Director, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., the producers of the film.
Praise is pouring in from all corners to celebrate the Cannes premiere of ‘Manthan’. Even Amul India, known for its creative advertisements, has joined the chorus of well-wishers. In their signature style, Amul created a doodle to honour the feat.
In the creation, the Amul girl representing late actor Smita Patil can be seen holding a glass of milk in one hand and bread and butter in the other. “Humara makhan, humara manthan...Amul Toast of Cannes,” the doodle read.
Reacting to the creative, a social media user commented, “Hahah love the way Amul celebrates all the achievements.”
“Manthan, the churning,” another one wrote.
Ahead of the film’s screening, Dr Jayen Mehta and Verghese Kurien’s daughter Nirmala Kurien shed light on Amul’s significant role at Bharat Pavilion. They revealed not only Amul’s support in bringing ‘Manthan’ back to the big screen but also the cooperative’s unique involvement in the film’s production.
‘Manthan’, set in Gujarat, was the first Indian film that was entirely crowdfunded by 500,000 farmers, who donated Rs 2 each. Kurien, along with Vijay Tendulkar, penned the script for the movie. ‘Manthan’ won two National Film Awards in 1977— for Best Feature Film in Hindi and the Best Screenplay for Tendulkar. It was also India’s official entry to the 1976 Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.
The restored version of the movie by Film Heritage Foundation was premiered at Cannes. Here are some images of the ‘Manthan’ team walking the iconic red carpet. (ANI)
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