The Cycle Of Love
This heart-warming documentary tells the improbably romantic love story of an Indian boy who, virtually penniless and on a second-hand bicycle, travelled over 10,000 kilometres to find the Swedish girl he fell in love with.
‘If you do not change direction,’ the Buddha teaches us, ‘you may end up where you are heading.’ And so P.K. Mahanandia, a young artist and a dalit – a member of India’s oppressed and poor, untouchable caste – sets out to achieve his destiny. A fortune teller had prophesied that in his twenties, P.K. would meet a foreigner, that she would be a Taurus and that they would marry. When a Swedish student named Lotta unexpectedly came into his life, he quizzed her… and she met the prophecy’s conditions. But when Lotta left India, P.K. was undeterred. A great romantic adventure, and a tale of self-empowerment, was about to begin. Sharing too much might spoil the fun, but suffice to say that P.K.’s journey involves a cheap bicycle and three continents, and that director Orlando von Einsiedel reconstructs the epic trip with ingenuity, respect and tenderness.
The Cycle of Love is one of those rare stories that you can hardly believe really happened. A documentary that leaves you with a renewed faith in love – and in humanity – as you leave the cinema. (source: Telluride Film Festival, adapted)