Cannes 2024: Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah walk the red carpet in ethnic attire for ‘Manthan’ screening

Veteran Bollywood actor-couple Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah made a stunning debut at the ongoing 77th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday

Veteran Bollywood actor-couple Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah made a stunning debut at the ongoing 77th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

During the screening of Shyam Benegal’s Manthan, the actors walked the red carpet donning ethnic attire, alongside Prateik Babbar, the actor-son of late veteran actor Smita Patil, and Nirmala Kurien, Dr Verghese Kurien’s daughter.

Naseeruddin wore a white sherwani with maroon buttons, while Ratna was spotted wearing her own saree and a lavender-hued, custom-crafted blouse handwoven from recycled cotton and plant dye. Prateik donned a black tuxedo and paid tribute to his late mother by wearing her patterned silk scarf. Nirmala wore a beautiful blue saree with a red pallu.

Also in attendance at the premiere were Jayen Mehta, MD of Amul, and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the founder of Film Heritage Foundation, the NGO behind the restored print.

Benegal’s 1976 film Manthan was fronted by Patil and starred Girish Karnad, Naseeruddin, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anant Nag, and Suresh Bedi among others. The film was inspired by the milk cooperative movement of Dr Verghese Kurien, who led ‘Operation Flood’ to transform India from a milk-deficient country to one of the world’s biggest milk producers and is credited for creating the billion-dollar brand Amul.

Co-written by Benegal and celebrated playwright Vijay Tendulkar, Gujarat-set Manthan was one of its kind as it was entirely crowdfunded by 5 lakh farmers who donated Rs 2 each.

The film won two National Film Awards in 1977: for Best Feature Film in Hindi and for Best Screenplay for Tendulkar. It was also India’s official entry to the 1976 Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category.