Ajit Rai9 minutes ago
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Legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s 48-year-old film Manthan was screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. After the screening, the audience gave the film a standing ovation. Legendary actor Naseeruddin Shah was in an important role in the film. After the screening he said that this is a proud moment for Indian cinema.
After the screening, Naseeruddin Shah remembered the team of the film Manthan and said that many of them are no more, who together had taken the film to this stage. The lead actors of the film, Girish Karnad, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri are no longer in this world. Vijay Tendulkar, who wrote the script of the film, and Kaifi Azmi, who wrote the dialogues, are also no more. Govind Nihalani did the cinematography of Manthan. Music was given by Vanraj Bhatia. Shyam Benegal could not come on this occasion due to illness.
Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak, Prateik Babbar at Cannes Film Festival.
Manthan is India’s first film to be made with crowd funding.
Naseeruddin Shah said that this was the first film in India which was made with crowd funding. At that time, five lakh farmers of Gujarat had deposited ten lakh rupees by donating two rupees each. At the age of 33, Varghese Kurien formed the first milk production corporate society in a village in Kheda district of Gujarat, which later became the foundation of Amul Corporate Society in Anand.
Naseeruddin Shah said that Manthan was only the second film of his career. Shyam Benegal has given new heights to cinematic aesthetics in this film. He has given artistic height to Indian cinema, which will always be remembered. He said that when this film was released, he was very nervous because there was neither glamour, no dancing, no singing, nor any special action in this film. All the actors of the film did a very good job. Looking at this film today years later, it feels how serious and committed our team was.
Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil taken on the sets of Manthan.
Prateik Babbar remembers mother Smita Patil
Smita Patil’s son Prateek Babbar said that he never saw his mother, as she died just days after his birth. He has seen his mother only on the cinema screen. On participating in the Cannes Film Festival for the first time, he said that he did not know how to express his happiness.
Girish Karnad and Smita Patil in a scene from the film Manthan.
Manthan will be released in 70 cities on June 1.
Film Heritage Foundation, an organization of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of Mumbai, has made this film available in high quality to the Cannes Film Festival. This is the third consecutive time that Indian films protected by this organization are being shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Naseeruddin Shah and the entire team of Manthan were given a ceremonial red carpet by the Cannes Film Festival. Shivendra Singh Dungarpur announced that Manthan will be released in 70 cities of the country on June 1.
The film got a standing ovation
After the screening of the film Manthan, the audience stood and clapped for Naseeruddin Shah for a long time at Buñuel Theatre. In a way, this film is a historical document of Indian cinema.
What is the story of the film?
Doctor Rao (Girish Karnad) is a veterinary surgeon. They, along with their colleagues Chandravarkar (Ananth Nag) and Deshmukh (Dr. Mohan Agashe), reach a village in Gujarat, where poor farmers survive by selling milk. They want to form a milk production corporate society there on behalf of the government. Mishra ji (Amrish Puri) suffers the most loss due to this, who runs a private dairy and buys milk from the villagers at throwaway prices and sells it at a higher price in the city.
The village sarpanch (Koolbhushan Kharbanda) initially supports him but as the participation of Dalits increases, he along with Mishra ji becomes their enemy and then a phase of conspiracies begins. Bhola (Naseeruddin Shah) is a Dalit young angry man. Long ago an urban contractor had made his mother pregnant and ran away. Bhola is angry with the rich and upper caste people. On the advice of Dr. Rao, the Dalits unite and defeat the Sarpanch in the elections. To take revenge, the Sarpanch sets fire to the Dalit colony. With his superior influence, he also gets Dr. Rao transferred.
Chandravarkar also has to leave the village after having physical relations with a Dalit girl. Doctor Rao’s wife comes to the village and falls ill. Bindu (Smita Patil), a courageous Dalit woman, accompanies Dr. Rao along with her young child. Then her missing husband returns and accuses Doctor Rao of adultery. At the end we see Dr. Rao catching a train with his wife at a deserted railway station and Bhola coming running. The train starts. The further story is of Bhola and how he succeeds in forming a Dairy Cooperative Society despite conspiracies.