'Manthan', India's First Crowdfunded Film From 1976, Gets Standing Ovation At Cannes

'Manthan', a 1976 film directed by Shyam Benegal was recently screened at the 77th Edition of Cannes Film Festival, after being restored by the Film Heritage Foundation at the Prasad Corporation Pvt. Ltd.'s Chennai Studio, as well as the L'Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory.

Their official twitter account made a post that the film will be screened on 17 May, 8:45 PM CEST, or 18 May, 12:15 AM IST.

In many videos circulating online, the crowd can be seen giving a standing ovation to both the film 'Manthan', as well as actor Naseeruddin Shah. The film was also viewed by other people involved in its making like Prateik Babbar, son of late actor Smita Patil, as well as Anita Patil Deshmukh and Manya Patil Seth, Smita Patil's two sisters.

The film was also viewed by Dr. Jayen Mehta, Managing Director of Gujarat Co-operative Marketing Milk Federation Ltd. who are also the producers of the film. Nirmala Kurien also went to see the film, her being the daughter of Verghese Kurien, the inspiration of one of the central characters of the film and a man who is often referred to as the 'Father Of White Revolution' in India.

The movie's plot tells the story of how the Gujarat Co-operative Marketing Milk Federation came into being, as well as the drama and politics involved in the making of such a film. In fact, the farmers who comprised these federations were the ones who funded the film. In an article by Mid-day, Benegal explained that he went to Verghese Kurien for help funding this film, to which Kurein suggested taking two rupees from each farmer to help tell their story.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the director of the Film Heritage Foundation and the man behind films like 'Celluloid Man', said after the screening of 'Manthan' that the movie will be released in 70 different cities on 1 June, as reported by the DailyExcelsior.