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{{Other uses|Manthan (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Manthan
| image = Manthan poster.jpg
| director = [[Shyam Benegal]]
| studio = [[Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.]]
| writer = [[Kaifi Azmi]] (dialogue)
| story = {{ubl|[[Verghese Kurien]]|Shyam Benegal}}
| screenplay = [[Vijay Tendulkar]]
| starring = [[Girish Karnad]] [[Smita Patil]] [[Naseeruddin Shah]]
| music = [[Vanraj Bhatia]]
| cinematography = [[Govind Nihalani]]
| editing = Bhanudas Divakar
| distributor =
| released = {{film date|df=yes|1976|||[[India]]}}
| budget =
| runtime = 134 minutes
| language = Hindi
| country = India
}}
'''''Manthan''''', also released under the translated title '''''The Churning''''', is a 1976 [[Hindi]] film directed by [[Shyam Benegal]], inspired by the pioneering milk cooperative movement of [[Verghese Kurien]], and written jointly by him and [[Vijay Tendulkar]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/In-the-News-2012/UNDP_India_in_the_news_1009201203.pdf |title=How a farmers' servant painted the nation white |work=UNDP quoting Hindustan Times |date=9 September 2012 |access-date=27 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205105839/http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/In-the-News-2012/UNDP_India_in_the_news_1009201203.pdf |archive-date=5 December 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It is set amidst the backdrop of the [[White Revolution (India)|White Revolution of India]]. Aside from the great measurable success that this project was, it also demonstrated the power of "collective might" as it was entirely [[crowdfunded]] by 500,000 farmers who donated Rs. 2 each.<ref name=hin/><ref name=sscnet/><ref>{{cite news|title=Milkmen turned producers|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/milkmen-turned-producers/article6181411.ece|work=The Hindu|date=5 July 2014|access-date=26 July 2016|archive-date=24 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124200408/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/milkmen-turned-producers/article6181411.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Manthan'' is the first crowdfunded Indian film.<ref name="mid">{{Cite web |url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/did-you-know-shyam-benegals-manthan-was-indias-first-crowdfunded-film/20203176 |title=Did you know Shyam Benegal's Manthan was India's first crowdfunded film? |date=2019-06-01 |website=[[Mid-Day]] |access-date=2019-06-16 |archive-date=16 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616070514/https://www.mid-day.com/articles/did-you-know-shyam-benegals-manthan-was-indias-first-crowdfunded-film/20203176 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The film won the 1977 [[National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi]] and [[National Film Award for Best Screenplay]] for Vijay Tendulkar, and was also [[List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|India's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] in 1976.<ref>Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</ref> A restored version was released in the ''Cannes Classics'' section of the [[2024 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=27 April 2024 |title=Restored version of Shyam Benegal’s Manthan to be screened at Cannes |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/manthan-screening-at-cannes-shyam-benegal-cannes-fil-festival-9292887/ |work=[[The Indian Express]] |location=New Delhi |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>

The title song ("Mero Gaam Katha Parey") was sung by [[Preeti Sagar]]. She won the [[Filmfare Award]] for [[Filmfare Best Female Playback Award|Best Female Playback Singer]] for that year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/manthan-1976/article3892670.ece|title=Manthan (1976)|last=Us Salam|first=Ziya|date=12 September 2012|work=The Hindu|access-date=2017-07-21|language=en|archive-date=26 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226152308/http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/manthan-1976/article3892670.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> The song was later used as the soundtrack for the television commercial for [[Amul]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kaur|first=Chehneet|url=https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/when-amul-made-manthan-reach-every-home/96806603|title=When Amul made ‘Manthan’ reach every home - ET BrandEquity|website=ETBrandEquity.com|publisher=[[The Economic Times]]|date=7 January 2023|access-date=26 April 2024|archive-date=6 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606061051/https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/when-amul-made-manthan-reach-every-home/96806603|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/prateik-babbar-on-mom-smita-patils-1976-film-manthan-screening-at-cannes-2024-a-symbolic-moment-for-me|title=Prateik Babbar On Mom Smita Patil's 1976 Film 'Manthan' Screening At Cannes 2024: A Symbolic Moment For Me|publisher=Outlook India}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-69014789|title=Manthan: The Indian film at Cannes made by half a million farmers|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

==Plot==
Dr. Manohar Rao, a young veterinary doctor with his team of Deshmukh, Chandravarkar, and others comes to a village in [[Kheda district]], Gujarat. The village is inhabited by poor people whose chief occupation seems to be cattle-rearing and producing milk, which they sell to a local dairy owner Mishra. Mishra pays them excessively low amounts for their milk. Dr. Rao and his team have arrived to set up a [[Cooperative]] society dairy which will be owned collectively and managed by the villagers themselves. As Dr. Rao and his team grapple with village politics, rigid casteism, and general distrust of the village folk, they face planned hostility from the local [[Dalit]] community's leader Bhola who harbours deep anger and resentment against the upper-caste [[Sarpanch]] (Panchayat Head). Local village women are led by a feisty young woman Bindu, mother of a young child whose husband has supposedly left her.

Dr. Rao wins the trust of Bindu and other villagers by testing their milk and paying them fair amounts for their high fat-content milk and this irks Mishra. Deshmukh is worried by the caste politics and divide between the upper-castes and Dalits in the village and repeatedly warns Rao against getting involved in it. Chandravarkar gets attracted to a local Dalit girl and has a rendezvous with her in secret. The Dalits don't want to join the cooperative as they feel that the upper-caste Sarpanch and his cronies will usurp the society as well. Rao and his associates talk sense into them and organise an election for the post of the head of the cooperative. Bhola begins to trust and believe in Rao's ideals when Rao fires Chandravarkar for cheating the Dalit girl on the pretext of marrying her and bails Bhola out of jail when Sarpanch gets him arrested for rowdy behaviour.

Meanwhile, a mutual admiration and liking develops between Rao and Bindu, which is cut short when Bindu's husband returns home suddenly, and Rao's wife comes to visit him in the village. In the election, the Dalit representative Moti (nominated by Bhola) defeats the Sarpanch in a tiebreaker and the Dalits erupt in joy. The Sarpanch takes the loss terribly on his ego and joins Mishra, also aided by Bindu's husband. Together, they manipulate Bindu into putting her thumb impression on legal papers that claim Dr. Rao has raped her. Dr. Rao is extremely agitated when the allegations are brought against him and starts to wonder if he has bitten off more than he can chew. His wife also falls sick with [[Typhoid fever|Typhoid]]. Dr. Rao finishes the setting up of the board and leaves with his wife, greatly troubling Bhola. Bhola, however, continues to carry on the work of the cooperative with support from a few villagers and notably, Bindu. Both of them have been inspired and churned as new, brave individuals by the work of Dr. Rao.

==Cast==
* [[Girish Karnad]] as Dr. Rao
* [[Smita Patil]] as Bindu
* [[Naseeruddin Shah]] as Bhola
* [[Sadhu Meher]] as Mahapatra (Special Appearance)
* [[Anant Nag]] as Chandavarkar
* [[Amrish Puri]] as Mishraji
* [[Kulbhushan Kharbanda]] as The Sarpanch
* [[Mohan Agashe]] as Deshmukh
* Abha Dhulia as Shanta, Dr. Rao's wife
* [[Anjali Paigankar]]
* Rajendra Jaspal as Bindu's husband

==Development and production==
The word ''manthan'' literally means "churning", and other meanings may be deep contemplation, the churning of facts, analysis aimed at a solution, or conclusion. The film traces a small set of poor farmers of [[Kheda district]] in Gujarat who had the vision and foresight to act in a way that was good for the society and not for the self alone. Under leaders like local social worker [[Tribhovandas Patel]], who took up the cause of the farmers, lead to the formation of [[Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union]]. Soon the pattern was repeated in each district of Gujarat, which in turn led to the formation of [[Amul]], a dairy cooperative in [[Anand, Gujarat]] in 1946, which is today, jointly owned by some 2.6 million milk producers in [[Gujarat]], India.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etgmr.com/GMRjan-mar04/art7.html|title=The Amul Story – General Management Review|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051204084731/http://www.etgmr.com/GMRjan-mar04/art7.html |archive-date=4 December 2005 }}</ref> Amul is the acronym for Anand Milk Union Limited<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anand Milk Union Limited |url=https://unacademy.com/content/railway-exam/study-material/general-awareness/anand-milk-union-limited/ |access-date=2026-03-14 |website=Unacademy |language=en-US}}</ref>.

Eventually, this led to the initiation of [[Operation Flood|White Revolution]] of India in 1970, by creating a "Nationwide Milk Grid", and the setting up of [[Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.]] (GCMMF) in 1973, whose 500,000 members jointly financed the film, by donating Rs. 2 each.<ref name=hin/><ref name=sscnet>{{cite web |author= |date=5 August 2012 |title=Shyam Benegal |url=http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Cinema/Benegal.html |website=ucla.net |publisher=[[University of California, Los Angeles]] |access-date=27 April 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805163057/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Cinema/Benegal.html |archive-date=5 August 2012}}</ref> Upon its release, truckloads of farmers came to see "their" film, thus making it a box office success.<ref name=hin>{{cite news |author= |date=17 January 2003 |title=What makes Shyam special... |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/01/17/stories/2003011700990100.htm |work=The Hindu |location=Chennai |access-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112210119/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/01/17/stories/2003011700990100.htm |archive-date=12 January 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |date=8 August 2007 |title=Phalke Award for Benegal |url=http://www.ndtvmovies.com/newstory.asp?section=Movies&id=ENTEN20070021927 |work=NDTV Movies |location=New Delhi |access-date=27 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929093909/http://www.ndtvmovies.com/newstory.asp?section=Movies&id=ENTEN20070021927 |archive-date=29 September 2007 }}</ref>
==Release==
The film was released on [[Blu-ray]] by the UK-based distributor Second Run on 27 October 2025, based on the 4K restoration by Film Heritage Foundation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gonet |first1=Adam |title=Second Run to Release New 4K Restoration of Shyam Benegal’s 'Manthan' on Special Edition Blu-ray |url=https://theartsshelf.com/2025/08/31/second-run-to-release-new-4k-restoration-of-shyam-benegals-manthan-on-special-edition-blu-ray/ |website=The Arts Shelf |access-date=2 December 2025 |date=31 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Second Run - Manthan |url=https://www.secondrundvd.com/release_manthan.html |website=www.secondrundvd.com |access-date=2 December 2025}}</ref>

==Restoration==
The film was restored by [[Film Heritage Foundation]] at Prasad Studios, Chennai and L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. ([[Amul]]), cinematographer [[Govind Nihalani]], and director [[Shyam Benegal]].<ref>{{cite web |title='Manthan': Remaking a classic |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/features/manthan-remaking-a-classic-627020 |website=TribuneIndia}}</ref> The film was shot on [[Gevacolor]], Eastman, and [[Kodak]] in the 1970s. Due to this, Govind Nihalani was unhappy with the final outcome at the time. After seeing the restored print, he was happy<ref>{{Cite web |title=‘Manthan’: Remaking a classic |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/features/manthan-remaking-a-classic-627020/ |access-date=2026-03-14 |website=The Tribune |language=en}}</ref>. The original camera negative from the NFAI and a 35 mm print preserved at the Film Heritage Foundation archive were used for the restoration.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobody believed in Manthan when we made it: Shyam Benegal |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/nobody-believed-in-manthan-when-we-made-it-shyam-benegal/articleshow/110825569.cms |website=The Times of India |date=8 June 2024}}</ref>

The film was repaired by FHF conservators. Prasad Lab in [[Chennai]] performed scanning and digital clean-up under the supervision of the [[Bologna]]-based L'Immagine Ritrovata lab. The restored version was selected for a world premiere at the [[Cannes Film Festival 2024]]‘s Cannes Classics strand.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ramachandran |first1=Naman |title=Cannes Classics Title 'The Churning': Inside the Restoration of 1976 Indian Masterpiece |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/asia/cannes-classics-the-churning-manthan-restoration-1236006256/ |website=Variety |date=18 May 2024}}</ref> A special premiere of the restored film was held on World Milk Day - June 1, 2024 - at [[Eros Cinema]] in Mumbai that was attended by Shyam Benegal and the cast and crew of the film. The film was released in 51 cities and 101 cinemas across India on June 1 and 2, 2024.<ref>{{cite web |title=Film Heritage Foundation returns to the Cannes Film Festival for a third year in a row for the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Shyam Benegal's milestone film "Manthan" (1976) - India's first crowd funded film produced by 500,000 farmers |url=https://filmheritagefoundation.co.in/film-heritage-foundation-restores-shyam-benegals-acclaimed-hindi-film-manthan-1976/ |website=Film Heritage Foundation |date=17 February 2024}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{Track listing
| collapsed =
| headline =
| extra_column = Playback
| total_length =

| all_writing =
| all_lyrics =
| all_music = [[Vanraj Bhatia]]

| writing_credits =
| lyrics_credits =
| music_credits =

| title1 = Mero Gaam Katha Parey
| note1 =
| writer1 =
| lyrics1 =
| music1 =
| extra1 = [[Preeti Sagar]]
| length1 =
}}

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
!scope=col|Year
!scope=col|Award
!scope=col|Category
!scope=col|Nominee(s)
!scope=col|Result
|-
| rowspan="2"|[[24th National Film Awards|1976]]
| rowspan="2"|[[National Film Awards]]
| [[National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi|Best Feature Film in Hindi]]
| [[Shyam Benegal]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[National Film Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| [[Vijay Tendulkar]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[25th Filmfare Awards|1978]]
| [[Filmfare Awards]]
| [[Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer|Best Female Playback Singer]]
| [[Preeti Sagar]] {{small|(For ''Mero Gaam Katha Parey'')}}
| {{won}}
|}

==Further reading==
* ''Shyam Benegal's the Churning (Manthan): Screenplay'', by, Vijay Tendulkar, Shyam Benegal, Samik Banerjee. Seagull Books, 1984. {{ISBN|0-86132-070-0}}.

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0074858|title=Manthan}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{succession box
| title=[[National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi]]
| years=1977
| before=''[[Nishant (film)|Nishant]]''
| after=''[[Junoon (1978 film)|Junoon]]''
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Shyam Benegal}}
{{Indian submission for Academy Awards}}

[[Category:1976 films]]
[[Category:1976 Hindi-language films]]
[[Category:1976 Indian films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Shyam Benegal]]
[[Category:Films set in Gujarat]]
[[Category:Crowdfunded films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Vijay Tendulkar]]
[[Category:Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award]]

Manthan - Revision history

Sarada22 at 00:31, 4 May 2026