Dr.Verghese Kurien : "Father of the White Revolution", - (Operation Flood). (d). 1.
d. Film and its use in enlarging the movement : 1.
Veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal, then an advertising executive with Lintas Advertising, produced Manthan (the churning of the 'milk ocean'), a story set in the cooperative milk movement in India.
Not able to finance it, Benegal was helped by Kurien who hit upon an idea of getting each of his half a million member farmers to contribute a token two rupees for the making of the movie.
Upon its release, truckloads of farmers came to see "their" film, making it a success at the box office.
Manthan hit a chord with the audience immediately when it was shown in Gujarat in 1976, which impressed distributors to release it before audiences, nationwide.
It was critically acclaimed and went on to win national awards the following year and was later shown on television to the public.
To be continued ....
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