Bicycle Kick (film)

Plot

Rubayet, a 19-year-old boy studying the first year of Bangla honours, stays at his cousin’s house in North Kolkata. Rubayet is unassumingly quiet, reticent, shy, lonesome and in a way scattered. His cousin brother fails to communicate with him, his sister-in-law seems somewhat hardened towards him. A jubilant life in the para in North Kolkata bubbles around Rubayet who remains distanced. Rubayet’s peers at Pranonath Sir’s coaching centre often poke fun at Rubayet. They try to take him into their parlance but strangely Rubayet remains detached and unaffected. One day, on his way back from coaching, a football flies onto Rubayet. With a start, he jerks back. A man keenly notices him from a field spread across the road where a bunch of guys were practicing football. The situation repeats itself a second day. The third day when a football is hurled at Rubayet he adeptly receives it in a reflex and recoils. This time, the man who used to observe him had intentionally thrown the ball at Rubayet. He is… well a photographer?.... may be. An eccentric?... uuuhh. A foody?...seeing is believing. A football coach?...that’s by profession. A magic man?... here our journey begins! Meet Moti Nandi. Moti da feels an urgency to reach out to this shy, inconfident guy, to find out why there is no stir in his life . He starts searching for another self of Rubayet, who remains numb.He learns that Rubayet’s house is in a small village in Bolpur. Moti da goes back to his past and gets to know that he used to be a star footballer. His father, who was a village school teacher, disapproved of Rubayet’s passion, used to worry about his insecurities. Bur Rubayet’ dreams, ambition, skill was concentrated in football. Human nature and circumstances are equally vulnerable. At one such sudden turn, Rubayet meets with an unforeseen trauma. Since then he has curled up within himself. Doctor suggested that the only way for him to recover is to leave his life and all his loved ones behind. Rubayet shifts to Calcutta to start a new life. But life refuses to welcome him anymore. Moti da weaves a mind game to cure this boy. Why does Moti da feel an urge to reach across to this boy whom he has never known before? What does this ineffable connect mean? Having grown up as a partially autistic child, the man Moti Nandi is shrouded in a mist. For Moti da, the journey at the same time becomes a path that digs into his own self . Another very interesting character is Moti da’s mentor who appears at pivotal points in the narrative, as a key person who has been Moti’s psychological guru. This man, in an unforgettable yet unnoticeable way hovers along the margins of this naarative as long as in the psyche. He teases the magic out of Moti .Many other interesting characters like a dhoopkathiwala, Teni da-Habul-Kyabla, a bunch of young friends pop up around Rubayet. It no more remains the story of Rubayet alone but each of these characters with their own crisis, challenges and strengths builds into Rubayet’s narrative different stages of Moti da’s magical journey. Bicycle Kick becomes a story of knowing oneself, of reaching one’s goal even when it is not in front of you. And Moti Nandi is our storyteller. This film draws upon an extremely simple and lucid way of sharing a story. Life, energy and inspiration lies at the heart of the film that wants to thank life in a very solemn way and enjoy the happiness, innocence and brightness that it offers even in this complex ‘ post-modern’ world. Each character has a story to tell and a struggle to share. And each one’s small struggle becomes an inspiration to live on and turn back. It is in the form of the film that we encounter these worlds within worlds, film within a film, the dreamers who are also dreamed, the magic, utopia and fulfillment that nevertheless awaits us, if not in big stories of success but in smaller aspirations. Thus, like life, Bicycle Kick is a voyage across time in the form as well as the content.

Cast