The title of the Indian film Manthan is often rendered in English as The Churning – not some psychological state of distress but actual physical churning. As in rich, creamy milk into butter and whey. Because this is a film about the setting up of a milk co-operative, financed by the dairy farmers it’s all about.
Before you doomscrool away, it’s a fascinating film, from its unique opening title card – “500,000 Farmers of Gujarat present… Manthan” – to its triumphant conclusion. Along the way there is triumph over adversity and collective action prevailing over greedy self-interest in what’s essentially an underdog story playing out under the umbrella of benign government intervention. How far away we are from 1976 today.
Idealistic government vet Dr Rao (Girish Karnad) arrives in a village hoping to set up a dairy co-operative. Currently, the villagers sell their milk to local big noise Mishra (Amrish Puri) and are stiffed on every deal. Rao should be welcomed with open arms, you’d think. But he isn’t. The villagers are suspicious and reluctant to change. None more so than the Bindu (Smita Patil), a young mother as pretty as she is fierce. And Bhola (Naseeruddin Shah), who is also hostile, for reasons that only become clear in the fullness of time.
The whole village seems to be against the government vet, in fact, from the head man Sarpanch – who is in Mishra’s pocket – down to the humblest owner of a single cow. Rao cannot get a break and being a member of the metropolitan elite is clearly a mark against him. But over time it becomes clear to the villagers that he has their best interests at heart, even those of the Dalits (Untouchables), who he’s keen to include in the proposed scheme. Which may or may not positively alter his chances of success.
Will Rao prevail? Well let’s just say that the film is co-written by Verghese Kurien, who pioneered a milk co-operative just like the one in Manthan, all part of the so-called White Revolution in India, which turned the country into the world’s greatest producer of dairy.
You might think that a film financed by donations – the press material describes Manthan as the world’s first crowdfunded movie – would be amateurish. And there is some shakiness around the edges in the acting of minor roles by the largely non-professional cast. But the film itself is visually gorgeous, with rich colours that look all the better in the 4K restoration by the Film Heritage Foundation (the basis of the Second Run disc I watched).
Director Shyam Benegal’s love of Italian neorealism works in his favour but he isn’t beholden to it. In fact he’s quite happy to resort to Hollywood tropes to bounce the story along. The turning point in Rao’s campaign, for example, comes when he’s called out to attend to a very sick child. But I’m a vet not a human doctor, Rao argues. The father pleads. Rao relents. An injection is administered. The child recovers and a corner is turned.
Considering it’s essentially a work of propaganda, there is also more nuance than you might expect. Rao and his team are not above a bit of venality, and there is the suggestion of a transgressive romance, which eventually curdles when re-purposed by Mishra in an attempt to Sumo-bounce Rao out of the village.
Rao isn’t entirely a saint, though he’s verging on it. You can imagine Spencer Tracy in the role played very nimbly by Girish Karnad. All the key roles are well handled, though – Smita Patil as the wary Bindu, Naseeruddin Shah (on his way to stardom and the best thing in it) as the angry Bhola, Amrish Puri as the fork-tongued Mishra – all of whom had worked on Benegal’s film Nishant the year before.
All in all, Manthan is not the film you’d expect, given its origins. Serious but not stodgy, informative but not didactic, it’s determined not to get bogged down in detail. Who knew – it’s fun!
Manthan – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2025
