How Far Would You Go for Love?
How far would you go for love? How about 6000 miles, from India to Sweden, cycling alone through rough and unknown countries on a ramshackle bike, with no money in your pockets, just longing to unite with the one you love?
In a world of AI and fake news, it’s refreshing to see and hear a real love story and actually meet the couple who conquered impossible caste and race differences, and financial barriers to live happily ever after. ‘The Cycle of Life’ is a love story/documentary/adventure which will keep you in your seats, rooting for a happy ending.
The Cycle of Love is a heart-warming, true-life adventure about PK Mahanandia, a Dalit or untouchable, who earns a living from sketching portraits – Rs. 10 in 10 minutes – on the streets of Delhi. When he encounters Lotta von Schedvin, a Swedish backpacker whose portrait he sketches, it is love at first sight for PK. He is convinced she is the woman from afar he is destined to marry, according to a childhood prophecy. The tenderness grows between the two for the next two months, and then Lotta has to return home but promises to return in August. When August comes and goes with no sign or letter from Lotta, PK decided to leave his old life and leave for Sweden. He has no money for a plane ticket and puts all he possesses to purchase a rickety Raleigh bike and decides to cycle the Hiker trail to Sweden. The film is about his Odyssey alone through deserts and unknown lands and rain and snow – and by the end of it, we are all warmed by the many people he meets and the power of self-belief and the human connection.
The film’s premiere in New York at the Directors Guild had an appearance by executive producer Priyanka Chopra Jones and Oscar-winning director, Orlando Von Einsiedel who has directed this film.
Here are some glimpses of the interviews with Orlando Von Einsiedel, as well as the amazing PK and Lotta, who certainly had a well-deserved happy ending. They have been married for 50 years and have two wonderful children who helped bring this love story of their parents to fruition. A truly satisfying real life ending!
The film can be seen for a week at the Angelika in New York. It is also opening in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Orlando Von Einsiedel recalled, “When I was giving a talk at the Nobel Peace Prize, two young people came up to me and handed me a book and said, ‘This is our parents’ story. Would you be interested in reading it and maybe making a film about it?’ And I took the book very politely. I read it, and I was completely blown away. And then I was very lucky. I got to go and meet them in in Sweden, and well, you’ve just seen they’re the most extraordinary, warm, open-hearted people imaginable, and I fell head over heels in love with them both.”
This was a difficult film to make because it’s a documentary without much archival footage. He admitted, “It presented a massive challenge because the story is extraordinary but there was very little archive footage. PK didn’t have a documentary crew following him in the 1970s, so that was terrifying. but it was kind of wonderfully refreshing in a creative way to try and think problem solve how to do this, and my past work helped.”
Two wonderful actors, Chirag Benedict Lobo and Mina Fuglesteg Dale play the roles of the youthful PK and Lotta and fully capture the tenderness and magic of their love story, and the angst of PK, as well as his journey into self-belief. Orlando says, “They’re extraordinarily talented actors, very emotionally intelligent and deeply empathetic. And what I should say about this film is, they are almost the only actors in it. Everybody else in this film are real people that we met along the route. Nothing was scripted. Everything was improvised and unplanned.”
The film is truly a slice of life and uses real people for the most part, telling this core part of PK’s story through live, unscripted conversations with strangers and how they enriched the journey, teaching him about spreading the love and in the process helping him to learn to love himself.
Orlando described the complex filmmaking, in simple terms to the audience: those conversations were just natural conversations, street cast on the day. They would find people, have a conversation, find out an interesting story element, like a tattoo that had a bit of meaning behind it, and then he would brief Chirag, and then let these conversations unravel in in you know very much in a way that he had shot many many documentaries.
“So one day we set off with PK and Lotta on this six- seven week odyssey to make this film, and that’s what you just saw. PK’s story happened 50 years agout bthe film you see is a modern story; people talking about hope and dreams and love today, and we spent time with communities from Iran and Afghanistan and in India and in Turkey.”
It is first and foremost a beautiful love story, but does not shy away from the inhumanity of discrimination faced by PK as a Dalit. Says Orlando, “Well, PK’s experience is obviously very specific to his experience, but discrimination is sadly a universal tragedy, You know, there’s darkness in this story. There’s also so much light, and I think one of the things I hope you all took away is that PK could complete his journey because of all the incredible, kind people he met along the way who helped him and gave him shelter and food.”
In his closing thoughts, Orlando said, “One of the privileges of being a documentary filmmaker is, as you get to travel, you get to meet people around the world. In my experience, the vast majority of people on this planet that we share it with are good. We care about the same things. We want safety, shelter, love, meaning in our lives, and I think that PK and Lotta’s story really, really speaks to showing that.”
A Gallery of Photos from the Premiere of Cycle of Love
