The film is based on the father of the white revolution , Verghese Kurien. The film shows Dr. Rao( Karnad) who is posted in a village in Gujarat to set up a co-operative society. The villain to these villages is Mishraji(Puri) who pays them only rupees a litre of milk. His malpractices are known but villagers are helpless. That’s when the doctor and his team come and change this milk selling rules. He shows the villagers that by forming the co-operative and selling it to the government instead of Mishraji . Though everyone is skeptical of his methods . The majority in the village are dalits and are afraid and so is the mishraji of losing his power. The sarpanch, an upper caste man, uses this conflict to win in the upcoming elections. But Dr. Rao changes this equation after many obstacles.
Director Shyam Benegal made this beautiful film by showing many layers of caste, gender, privilege ethics and morals. Bnenegal has made a brilliant effort to show various shades of human interactions and societal restrictions. Giritsh Karnad , gives a perfect closer look to Dr, Rao and Naeerudin Shah plays the role of dalit character Bhola moves with his performance
The film received a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Screenplay for Vijay Tendulakr. The film was also India’s submission for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 1976
