Documentary Series: A Million Churnings – Coming soon
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A documentary series on the world’s largest farmers’ protest that challenged the corporate capture of India’s democracy.
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Synopsis
In November 2020 for a year, hundreds of thousands of farmers laid siege to India’s national capital, Delhi, protesting against three new farm laws. What became the world’s largest farmers’ movement eventually led to the repeal of these laws, significantly influencing India’s public discourse on economic development, ecology, and social justice.
Between November 2020 and December 2021, over half a million farmers occupied Delhi’s borders in protest against three new agricultural laws, collectively known as the Farm Laws of 2020. Through individual narratives of protesters and collective experiences, the documentary series A Million Churnings explores this watershed moment in Indian politics—the farmers’ movement that reshaped the course of India’s socio-economic and political landscape.
Perched on tractor-trolleys, trucks, cars, two-wheelers, and on foot, hundreds of thousands of farmers from Delhi’s surrounding states attempted to march into the capital. They occupied four major highways bordering the national capital, which eventually became their protest sites—Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur, and Shahjahanpur.
Tractor-trolleys became makeshift homes. Langars, or community kitchens, fed thousands daily. Tents offering medical services and libraries sprang up. The protest sites turned into cities within the city. India was witnessing one of its most resolute yet peaceful movements.
What began as resistance to three new farm laws soon sparked ‘a million churnings’ in the participating states. These churnings brought caste, gender, religious harmony, federalism, regional unity, corporate power, and the consequences of the Green Revolution into public debate, reshaping how agrarian life and justice were understood. Beyond compelling an unyielding government to retreat, the movement also provoked deep introspection and reflection within—an invaluable legacy for the future.
