Shyam Benegal's Restored 'Milk Revolution' Project Manthan Set To Go To Cannes Film Festival

Shyam Benegal's Manthan will be the fifth Indian or Indian-backed film to make its way to this year's Cannes Film Festival. A restored print of the film will be screened as a Film Heritage Foundation project - the third thus far. Prior to Manthan, Aravindan Govindan’s Thamp (1978) and Aribam Syam Sarma’s Ishanou (1990) have been screened at Cannes.

Manthan to re-premiere at Cannes

Shyam Benegal's Manthan was way ahead of its time for a multitude of reasons. The Film Heritage Foundation has worked tirelessly to restore the 1976 film, which, as per a Scroll.in report, was funded by 500,000 farmers back in the 70s. In a press statement, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the foundation's director, described the restoration of Manthan as a long standing dream. He said, "The restoration of a Shyam Benegal film has been on Film Heritage Foundation’s wish list for years as he is one of India’s most venerated filmmakers whose early films were iconic in India’s parallel cinema movement."

Cinematographer Govind Nihalani too chimed in, describing working on Manthan's restoration as an "emotional experience". He shared, "It has taken me back to 1976 when the entire unit lived like a family in the village of Sanganva in Gujarat for 45 days during which the film was shot..."

What is Manthan about?

Manthan is popularly remembered as the film which cinematised India's 'milk revolution', or 'white revolution'. Besides its soul-searing plot, the film is a smart commentary on how foreign ideas cannot be superimposed on deeply traditional territory. More simply, it is a well-deserved tribute to Amul's success story in India. 

Besides Manthan, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, selected for the Competition section), Maisam Ali’s In Retreat, showing in the sidebar ACID Cannes programme, Film and Television Institute of India student Chidanand S Naik’s Sunflowers Were The First Ones To Know, chosen for the competitive La Cinef category and British filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh starring Shahana Goswami, have also made it to Cannes this year. The original Manthan, can be streamed on YouTube, via Amul TV's channel.