ethic as dictatorial) backed by political forces desperate to make inroads into the cooperative dairy's district unions. He was handed over the chairmanship of Tribhuvandas Foundation – an NGO to work on women and child health in Kheda district, by Tribhuvandas Patel, as the trust started to grow rapidly after receiving foreign grants. Control over the Amul group GCMMF has been constantly disputed in court. In popular culture Filmmaker Shyam Benegal wanted to make Manthan ("churning of the milk ocean", in Hindu mythology) a story based on Amul, but lacked funds. Kurien got his half a million member-farmers to contribute two rupees to make the movie, which was released in 1976. Many farmers came to see "their film" and made it a success at the box office, which emboldened distributors to release it to nationwide audiences. In 2005, he wrote the book I Too Had A Dream, a narrative about the empowerment of farmers and development of milk cooperatives in India, audio version of which was produced by Atul Bhide. Manthan's success inspired Kurien with another idea. A veterinarian, a milk technician, and a fodder specialist would tour other parts of the country in real life along with the film to persuade farmers to form cooperatives of their own. The UNDP used the movie to start similar cooperatives in Latin America and screened it in Africa. Kurien's support was crucial in making the "Amul girl" ad campaign as one of the longest running, and Surabhi, a TV series on Indian culture fetching millions of postcards from viewers, one of the longest running on national television during the 1990s. In 2013, Amar Chitra Katha published the comic book Verghese Kurien: The Man with the Billion Litre idea. Book was given the synopsis 'The story of Dr. Kurien is the story of Amul. Death Kurien died from an illness at the age of 90 on 9 September 2012 at a Nadiad hospital, near Anand. His wife, Molly, hosted the visitors in Anand. Kurien was brought up as a Christian before becoming an atheist. He was cremated and is survived by a daughter, Nirmala, and grandson. Awards and honours In 2014, all the major dairy groups in the country, along with the Indian Dairy Association, resolved to observe Kurien's birthday, 26 November, as National Milk Day. He had been bestowed with honorary degrees by the Michigan State University and the Swedish University of