The Churning
(Manthan)

By contributing 2 rupees each, 500,000 farmers came together to finance the production of Manthan, in a sort of gigantic crowdfunding before its time. The strength of the collective is the very coret of Shyam Benegal’s film, which recounts the misadventures of an idealistic vet who manages to unite the farmers of a village around a milk cooperative project. His notions of the equitable distribution of profits, irrespective of class or caste, and freedom from exploitative middlemen churn up a maelstrom of mistrust, anger and resistance between the feudal landlords and peasants, threatening the deep-rooted social hierarchy based on generations of discrimination.