Cannes, Veteran director Shyam Benegal's "Manthan", the film financed by 5 lakh farmers of Gujarat 48 years ago, made a triumphant return to the center of public consciousness with its screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
A restored version of the 1976 film, inspired by Dr Verghese Kurien's groundbreaking military cooperative movement that turned India into one of the world's largest milk producers, was screened under the Cannes Classic segment on Friday.
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah walked the red carpet at Cannes with Ratna Pathak Shah, late co-star Smita Patil's son Prateik Babbar, Dr Kurien's daughter Nirmala Kurian and Amul MD Jayen Mehta.
"Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Prateik Babbar, M Nirmala Kurian, @FHF_Official team, and Mr. @Jayen_Mehta, MD, Amul's 'Manthan' team, represent 3.6 million farmer producers at @Festival_Cannes #ManthanAtCannes, Official X Posted on Amul's page.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), the non-profit organization behind the restored prints, also attended the screening of the film.
“The Film Heritage Foundation returned to the red carpet at Cannes for the third consecutive time last night at the Cannes Film Festival 2024 with the world premiere of our restoration of Shyam Benegal's landmark film 'Manthan,' produced by 500,000 dairy farmers." " FHF posted on X.
Directed by Patil, the film was inspired by the milk cooperative movement of Verghese Kurien, who led 'Operation Flood' to transform India from a milk-starved country to one of the world's largest milk producers and a billion-dollar brand. I was given the credit for creating Amul. ,
Co-written by Benegal and renowned playwright Vijay Tendulkar, the Gujarat-based "Manthan" was unique of its kind as it was collected entirely by 5 lakh farmers, who donated Rs 2 each.
The film won two National Film Awards in 1977: for Best Feature Film in Hindi and for Best Screenplay for Tendulkar. It was also India's official entry to the 1976 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.Benegal, who did not attend the premiere due to health reasons, recalled how farmers in Gujarat had also made the film a hit by watching it en masse in theatres.
"The farmers who produced the film helped make it a success. Once the film was released in Saurashtra, Gujarat, it did brilliantly. This was because the farmers, they were the original audience of the film. The family met.
“They wanted everyone to see it because they believed it was their movie.They all came to watch the film riding on bullock carts, whether they were from Ahmedabad, Baroda or other places in Gujarat. We did not do any kind of publicity. The film has its own pace,” the 89-year-old filmmaker had said earlier this week.
"Manthan" is the third consecutive film to be screened by FHF at Cannes, one of the most prestigious film festivals worldwide.
FHF restored G Aravindan's Malayalam film "Thampu" (1978) as Cannes Classics in 2022, followed by restoration of "Ishaanau" directed by Manipuri writer Aribam Syam Sharma under the same segment last year.According to the official website of the festival, the restoration of "Manthan" was done using the original 35 mm camera negative preserved in the NFDC-National Film Archive of India, with digital sound from the 35 mm release print preserved in the Film Heritage Foundation.
It was restored to Prasad Corporation Pvt. Ltd. Ltd.'s Post-Studio, Chennai in collaboration with L'Imagine Retrovita Laboratory, Gujarat Co-operative Mill Marketing Federation Ltd., Cinematographer Govind Nihalani and Benegal.
A restored version of the 1976 film, inspired by Dr Verghese Kurien's groundbreaking military cooperative movement that turned India into one of the world's largest milk producers, was screened under the Cannes Classic segment on Friday.
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah walked the red carpet at Cannes with Ratna Pathak Shah, late co-star Smita Patil's son Prateik Babbar, Dr Kurien's daughter Nirmala Kurian and Amul MD Jayen Mehta.
"Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Prateik Babbar, M Nirmala Kurian, @FHF_Official team, and Mr. @Jayen_Mehta, MD, Amul's 'Manthan' team, represent 3.6 million farmer producers at @Festival_Cannes #ManthanAtCannes, Official X Posted on Amul's page.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), the non-profit organization behind the restored prints, also attended the screening of the film.
“The Film Heritage Foundation returned to the red carpet at Cannes for the third consecutive time last night at the Cannes Film Festival 2024 with the world premiere of our restoration of Shyam Benegal's landmark film 'Manthan,' produced by 500,000 dairy farmers." " FHF posted on X.
Directed by Patil, the film was inspired by the milk cooperative movement of Verghese Kurien, who led 'Operation Flood' to transform India from a milk-starved country to one of the world's largest milk producers and a billion-dollar brand. I was given the credit for creating Amul. ,
Co-written by Benegal and renowned playwright Vijay Tendulkar, the Gujarat-based "Manthan" was unique of its kind as it was collected entirely by 5 lakh farmers, who donated Rs 2 each.
The film won two National Film Awards in 1977: for Best Feature Film in Hindi and for Best Screenplay for Tendulkar. It was also India's official entry to the 1976 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.Benegal, who did not attend the premiere due to health reasons, recalled how farmers in Gujarat had also made the film a hit by watching it en masse in theatres.
"The farmers who produced the film helped make it a success. Once the film was released in Saurashtra, Gujarat, it did brilliantly. This was because the farmers, they were the original audience of the film. The family met.
“They wanted everyone to see it because they believed it was their movie.They all came to watch the film riding on bullock carts, whether they were from Ahmedabad, Baroda or other places in Gujarat. We did not do any kind of publicity. The film has its own pace,” the 89-year-old filmmaker had said earlier this week.
"Manthan" is the third consecutive film to be screened by FHF at Cannes, one of the most prestigious film festivals worldwide.
FHF restored G Aravindan's Malayalam film "Thampu" (1978) as Cannes Classics in 2022, followed by restoration of "Ishaanau" directed by Manipuri writer Aribam Syam Sharma under the same segment last year.According to the official website of the festival, the restoration of "Manthan" was done using the original 35 mm camera negative preserved in the NFDC-National Film Archive of India, with digital sound from the 35 mm release print preserved in the Film Heritage Foundation.
It was restored to Prasad Corporation Pvt. Ltd. Ltd.'s Post-Studio, Chennai in collaboration with L'Imagine Retrovita Laboratory, Gujarat Co-operative Mill Marketing Federation Ltd., Cinematographer Govind Nihalani and Benegal.