Manthan, the power of the collective
After Ankur (The Seedling) in 1974, and Nishant (The Night’s End), presented in Competition at the Festival de Cannes in 1976, Indian director Shyam Benegal delivered the third instalment of his trilogy on rural oppression: Manthan (The Churning). The title refers to the organisation of an entire village around the creation of a dairy cooperative. This year, Cannes Classics is offering the chance to rediscover this social fable in a new, restored copy based on the original negatives, screened in the presence of one of its main cast, Naseeruddin Shah.
The story of this film is a case of art meeting life. For the film to be made, 500,000 farmers financed the production of Manthan, contributing 2 rupees each, making it the first ever crowdfunded Indian film. It’s a film with a social purpose, in its content and its form. The fact that it was screened in Super 8 throughout the state of Gujarat, with the aim of raising awareness among small milk producers, sparked anger and suspicion in a country firmly rooted in tradition.
“It’s not just about changing society; it’s also about changing the individual. These two things are sometimes incompatible.”
At the origin of what is known as “middle cinema”, a genre aimed at finding a middle ground between commercial and art-house cinema, Shyam Benegal’s filmography often focuses on social injustice, tyranny, and the condition of women. This latter theme is notably found in his next film and his biggest success, the biopic Bhumika (The Role), inspired by the life of a famous theatre and cinema actress.
A presentation of the Film Heritage Foundation. Restoration carried out using the 35mm original camera negative preserved at the NFDC-National Film Archive of India with sound digitised from the 35 mm release print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation, funded by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, restored by Film Heritage Foundation at Prasad Corporation Pvt. Ltd.’s Post – Studios, Chennai and L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., cinematographer Govind Nihalani and director Shyam Benegal.
Screening in the presence of actor Naseeruddin Shah, the family of actress Smita Patil, producers of the film and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation.