18 May,2024 09:55 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Cannes 2024 Day 4 (Pics/Amul India)
Veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, and Prateik Babbar, along with Dr. Verghese Kurien's daughter, Nirmala Kurien, and Amul MD Jayen Mehta, graced the Cannes red carpet for the screening of "Manthan".
Amul India shared glimpses of the event on its official Instagram account. Shyam Benegal's classic film was screened during a prestigious gala at Salle Bunuel on Friday.
Naseeruddin Shah joins Prateik Babbar on 2024 Cannes Film Festival red carpet
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"Manthan team of Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Prateik Babbar, Ms Nirmala Kurien, @filmheritagefoundation team, & Shri Jayen_Mehta, MD, Amul, representing 3.6 million farmer producers of the film at @festivaldecannes#ManthanAtCannes" read the caption.
'Manthan,' featuring the late actor Smita Patil, is the sole Indian film chosen for the Cannes Classic section of this year's festival. The movie also starred Girish Karnad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mohan Agashe, Anant Nag, and Amrish Puri, among others.
About the movie
Based on Dr. Verghese Kurien's groundbreaking milk cooperative movement, known as the White Revolution in India, the film was produced by five lakh dairy farmers of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets its products under the Amul brand.
The movie set in Gujarat was funded entirely by 500,000 farmers who each donated Rs 2. Kurien, along with Vijay Tendulkar, wrote the script.
"Manthan" won two National Film Awards in 1977: Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Screenplay for Tendulkar. It was also India's official entry to the 1976 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
The premiere of the restored film at Cannes was attended by Naseeruddin Shah, the late Smita Patil's family, the film's producers, and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur from the Film Heritage Foundation.
Shyam Benegal earlier stated his excitement, "I was absolutely delighted when Shivendra told me that Film Heritage Foundation was going to restore Manthan in collaboration with the Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. Manthan is a film that is very close to my heart as it was funded by 500,000 farmers and was instrumental in the growth of an extraordinary cooperative movement that was aimed at breaking the shackles of economic inequality and caste discrimination whilst empowering the farmers."
