A while ago, I revisited the recently restored film Manthan, which brought to life the power of a farmers’ cooperative and the idea of doing business without middlemen. Manthan was crowdfunded in 1976 by five lakh farmers of Gujarat; the film was celebrated over the years for honouring the values that built the grassroots cooperative movement of dairy farmers. Forty-eight years later, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation funded the film’s high-definition restoration; the film is an inseparable part of the federation’s Amul brand—now a global phenomenon. In fact, the federation head walked the red carpet with the cast at the screening in Cannes.

It was fortunate timing that right after watching the film, I found myself diving into Kiran Khalap’s petite, chatty new book (80 pages, currently released online only), The 4ourth Era of Branding. Just as the film depicts the struggle and triumph of dairy farmers, the book lauds Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited), a brand  born out of the resilience of small dairy farmers fighting against exploitation, at the same time ensuring a fair price to consumers. Khalap counts Amul among the socially responsible, pro-people, environmentally-aware corporations which leveraged brand power to make India the largest milk-producing nation on Earth!