‘Manthan’ Makers, Star Naseeruddin Shah Get Standing Ovation In Cannes

CANNES, (ANI) – Veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Prateik Babbar, Dr Verghese Kurien’s daughter Nirmala Kurien, and Amul MD Jayen Mehta graced the red carpet during the screening of ‘Manthan’ at Cannes Film Festival 2024.

One of the viral videos from the screening showed the moment the film came to an end, the crowd present in the theatre erupted into big applause and gave a standing ovation for nearly five minutes to the film and actor Naseeruddin Shah.

Shyam Benegal’s classic which starred the late actor Smita Patil, is the only Indian film to be selected under the Cannes Classic section of the festival this year. The film also features Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mohan Agashe, Anant Nag, and Amrish Puri among others.

The film, based on the pioneering milk cooperative movement of Dr Verghese Kurien — the father of the White Revolution in India, was produced by five lakh dairy farmers of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation which markets its products under the Amul brand.

The movie was the first crowd-funded Indian film which was entirely crowdfunded by 500,000 farmers who donated Rs2 each. Kurien, along with Vijay Tendulkar, had penned down the script for the movie.

Manthan 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.

The screening of ‘Manthan’ was attended by 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.

‘Manthan’ was 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. (Amul), the cinematographer Govind Nihalani and the director Shyam Benegal.

‘Noteworthily’, ‘Manthan’ is also India’s first crowdfunded film produced by 500,000 dairy farmers who contributed Rs. 2/- each towards the production of the film. Also, Indian audiences can catch the premiere of the restored film in theatres nationwide on World Milk Day falling on June 1st, 2024.

Earlier on Saturday, Amul India created a special doodle to celebrate Cannes premiere of ‘Manthan’.

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 loves the way Amul celebrates all the achievements.”

“Manthan, the churning,” another one wrote.

‘Manthan’ also starred Amrish Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Girish Karnad, and Mohan Agashe.