After his more than thirty documentaries on sociological andanthropological subjects, Shyam Benegal's theatrical features notsurprisingly have all been highly political, and increasingly complex,meditations on the social conditions in his country. The Churning is atrenchant look at the caste system of contemporary India and the way inwhich it intrudes upon attempts at economic reform. Satti Khannawrites, "The Churning describes the lives of a few people inGujarat (west India) who try to start a marketing cooperative amongdairy farmers. The veterinarian (Girish Karnad) sent out to look aftercattle notices the exploitation of farmers by buyers and urges thefarmers to market the milk themselves. But a marketing cooperativewould confer equal rights on high caste and low caste...After the doctoris transferred back to the city for meddling, only a single convincedoutcaste (Naseeruddin Shah) remains to carry on the work of persuadingother villagers, a pitifully small force for change against the castehabit of centuries." Smita Patil, in her first major film role, ismemorable as the village woman who stands up for the protagonist.Superbly photographed by Govind Nihalani, who later directed Half-Truth(Ardh Satya), The Churning was shown at Filmex and other internationalfilm festivals, and helped earn Benegal International Film Guide's BestDirector commendation for 1977.