Football is a game which most Bengalis are very passionate about as it is the most favourite game of the Bengalis. Though cricket has now become the mass sport , yet it has a special place in the heart of most Bengalis thanks to the rivalry between our very own Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. These two clubs have been a part of the history of West Bengal and their rivalry is famous. Bengal’s passion for football is famous because it has even seen people getting into feuds due to their support for these two clubs or even families getting separated.
Films like ‘East Bengaler Chele’ or ‘Mohun Baganer Meye’ which were comedies or ‘Striker’ and ‘Saheb’ and other films have been made before , but ‘Bicycle Kick’ ,a new Bengali film is completely different. The film is about special characters and the relationship between the mentors and how the characters develop along the way. Rubayet is a loner who acts in a weird way when a football lands on him one day. The same thing happens on the second day and on the 3rd day, he receives it and recoils when it had been actually thrown intentionally at him. Thus is the discovery of Rubayet, an aspiring footballer who had withdrawn himself after undergoing a trauma . The person who discovers him is also special. He is Moti Nandi(since it is the game of football, why not use the name of the late legendary sports writer though he has no connection with the story),a football coach who understands people like Rubayet better because even he was born a partially autistic child. The film required actors who are maybe not popular or that well known because maybe they can act and are not stars. Newcomer Saurav, who happens to be the grandson of yesteryear actor Tarun Kumar portrays Rubayet well and has the innocence and the facial expressions to carry off the role. Ritwick Chakrabarty who plays Moti Nandi has already been seen on the small screen and big screen before and is an accomplished actor so he is a fitting choice for Moti Nandi. Soumitra Chatterjee plays an interesting role in the form of a mentor’s ‘mentor’ to Moti who plays with the mind and derives the best out of Moti. Maybe Moti is able to bring out the best out of Rubayet thanks to his mentor’s influences. The film also has 4 characters called Tenida, Habul and Kabla who circle around Rubayet though they are not exactly the namesake of the characters created by Narayn Gangopadhay. The music by Joy Sarkar and the background score by Mainak ‘Bumpy’ Nagchoudhury is quite nice. Each of the songs blends beautifully with the film and the line up of singers with Shaan, Kaushiki, Somlata , Anupam and others is quite impressive for a film of this kind.
It is the story and challenges that each character takes up and the motivating factor which makes Bicycle Kick a magical journey.