Manthan: The Indian film at Cannes made by half a million farmers

Naseeruddin Shah, who began his acting career with Benegal and later became one of India’s best-known actors, remembers living the film during its making.

“I lived in a hut, learnt to make cow dung cakes and milk a buffalo,” he says. “I would carry the buckets and serve the milk to the unit to get the physicality of the character.” Shah, who will present the film at Cannes, also wore the same cotton shirt throughout the shoot.

Kurien released the film initially in Gujarat to a rousing reception. “The film did brilliantly because its largest audience was also the film’s producers. Every day we had this incredible sight of truckloads of people coming in from all over to see the film,” says Benegal. More copies of this film were produced than any other in India, spanning formats from 35mm to 8mm, Super 8, and later, video cassettes. Manthan was widely shown around the world, including at the UN General Assembly, and won a National Award at home.

Manthan’s success gave Kurien another idea. Using the film to propagate the milk revolution, he distributed 16mm prints to villages nationwide, urging farmers to establish their own cooperatives. In real life imitating reel life, he sent teams comprising a vet, a milk technician and a fodder specialist to distribute and show the film to farmers.