Original subtitles

(WIND HOWLING)

(WIND CONTINUES)

(SCRAPING, SCRATCHING)

(SIGHS WITH EXHAUSTION)

(BICYCLE CLATTERING)

(BREATHING HARD)

(WIND CONTINUES HOWLING)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

PK: March 1977.

My dearest, my dearest, my dearest.

Vem kan segla...

I'm trying my best to come to you.

I haven't seen anyone for days.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES)

I'm feeling so weak.

(VOICES ECHO IN HIS HEAD)

If I don't make it, please forgive me.

(TRAFFIC RUMBLING, CARS HONKING)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING NOISILY)

(TRAFFIC NOISE CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND)

As a child, I heard many stories about myself,

but which one to believe?

I have no photographs of my childhood.

It's a different time.

My first memory is a great joy and happiness,

and I was surrounded by love energy, you know?

That I feel he's very happy.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

Before going to school.

Then I met a different world.

We humans are all masters

of creating systems to be enslaved.

This smile disappeared.

According to the Hindu caste system,

I was born an outcast.

I was an untouchable.

A Dalit. A Harijan.

Anything I touch will be impure.

I was not regarded, I felt, as human, you know?

Yeah.

-(DOG BARKING) -(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) But there was always something

in my life that gave me hope.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) Okay, Sir. Thank you so much.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) Destiny is everything.

When I was born,

my father asked an astrologer to do a prophecy about me.

The prophecy was etched on a palm leaf.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

This is a map of the universe when I was born.

I was told that my future wife

would come from faraway land.

(CHATTERING INAUDIBLY)

She would be star sign Taurus.

She would be musical person,

and owns a jungle.

My own fairytale story.

And I will meet her one day,

but I didn't know exact day that meeting,

that magical meeting will happen.

(UPBEAT INDIAN MUSIC PLAYING)

(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY ON RADIO)

MAN: ...what exactly untouchability is.

Some people are born at a high level in society.

Some people are born low.

About 15% of our population,

they're backward in every respect,

socially, economically, educationally.

(UP TEMPO INDIAN MUSIC CONTINUES)

PK: I thought coming to Delhi when I was 20

was a great opportunity for me to escape my caste.

In Delhi, I could hide.

But I was poor,

and I was like a vagabond.

-(RADIO CRACKLING) -(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

MAN: The lowliest of jobs

are given to the untouchable population.

WOMAN: Dalits sit at the bottom of the caste hierarchy.

They're regarded as dirt.

PK: Often I was hungry,

and my first only thoughts I had during that time

were how to feed myself, you know?

For three years,

I lived between hope and despair.

-(PEOPLE CHATTERING) -(MUSIC PLAYING)

The prophecy was in the back of my mind all the time.

(FLUTE MUSIC PLAYS)

But when would my life change?

I always tried to comb my hair straight and dress properly.

I was thinking how I could hide my caste.

(POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYING)

I began to sketch portraits of tourists

to earn some money to feed myself and pay rent.

Ten rupees, ten minutes! Portrait!

It was just enough to survive.

(UPBEAT INDIAN MUSIC PLAYING)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

Okay.

(IN ENGLISH) You are liking Rembrandt?

He's a really good artist. I studied Rembrandt.

(PK SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(WOMAN SPEAKING)

(BOTH LAUGHING)

(IN ENGLISH) One, two, three.

Wow!

I love it. It does look like me.

-Ten rupees, ten rupees. -Uh-huh.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) It was 17th December '75.

(LIGHT INDIAN MUSIC PLAYING)

That I'm very, very sure.

Fifteen minutes, ten rupees.

Okay, yeah.

Perfect.

-Do you want me to do something? -No, no, no.

You feel comfortable. I will adjust.

Okay. I will try. (LAUGHS)

-What is your name? -My name?

-Yes. -Lotta.

-Lotta. Lotta. -Yeah.

-Very good. And yours? -My name, it is PK.

PK.

You made all of these as well?

Yes, yes. These are all mine, my portraits.

My mom is a very good artist, so she taught me.

They're really good.

-Thank you. -Yeah.

You have a lot of tourists as well, no?

PK: So many people,

they are coming. I'm getting them.

You're so popular.

I'm... For me, it is...

I'm doing like this... little bit, little bit popular.

Yeah, you are a little popular, I think.

That's very impressive.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

So, uh, how long you are staying in India?

In India? Um, a few weeks.

I wanted to travel here for years

and years and years and years,

and we travelled for 22 days from Sweden.

So, we want to stay for a while.

And then, you know, we'll have to leave.

Maybe I'll come back in August after my studies.

(PENCIL SCRATCHING RAPIDLY)

(EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING)

PK: Ten minutes.

That is all I had.

She looked at me and her eyes were so big.

My eyes see myself in her eyes.

Then I was telling myself, "Do it properly.

"Do the justice to her beauty."

I thought this could be her,

the woman of the prophecy.

You are happy?

I... Yes, very.

Okay. I have to make sure that I don't tear it on the way.

And thank you for this.

I'll take care of it.

Are you Taurus?

Then she woke up.

"Yes. But how did you know?" (LAUGHS)

How did you know?

Are you good at horoscopes, or...

Are you of, uh, musicality?

Like, uh, it's... Yeah.

I play piano and I... I sing.

I love to sing and, uh, I play the recorder.

"Yes! But how did you know?"

"I know more than you can imagine," I said to her.

(EMOTIONAL MUSIC CONTINUES)

This is a final question that, uh, I have to ask.

Okay.

Are you owner of jungle?

No.

But my family owns some forest.

Nature and trees and...

Yeah, different a little bit, but yeah.

I'm so confused, yes?

Oh, my God.

There everything is decided, over there,

and we are destined to meet,

and we are meeting now.

(LOUD TRAFFIC CLAMORING)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(CAR HONKING)

(IN ENGLISH) Thank you very much.

(BUSY STREET BUSTLING)

PK: She told me she'll be back in August

and I believed in that.

Then August passed.

August, September, October, you know?

I knew she's not coming,

and I cannot stay here anymore.

(RHYTHMIC INDIAN DRUMMING)

I'm destined to meet her,

destined to marry her,

destined to be with her till to my death.

I must do something.

I had to reach Sweden somehow.

It sounds crazy today,

but it made sense to me 50 years ago.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC CRESCENDO)

Even if I sold everything I had,

it was not enough for an air ticket.

Then I said, "I must do the simple way.

"I will buy a bicycle."

(LAUGHS)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(BELL RINGS)

(IN ENGLISH) My strength was, I think,

the lack of geographical knowledge, you know?

I didn't know how far it was.

Yeah, 55, eh?

But I knew she took 22 days to drive.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

Thank you.

(IN ENGLISH) I wrote letters, I remember.

(IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) Oh, my God.

I remember this now.

I've written, "My dearest Lotta.

"How are you?

"Frankly speaking, Lotta,

"many girls I meet under the fountain, they talk to me.

"No one looks attractive to me.

"Even physically.

"Always you are in my mind and thoughts."

-(LAUGHS) -(UPBEAT INDIAN MUSIC PLAYING)

YOUNG PK: "So, I have decided to cycle to you.

"My friends have told me that it is a crazy idea,

"that it is dangerous.

"I don't know how I'll eat, or find shelter.

"I don't know if I'm strong enough.

"But I believe this is my destiny.

"I promise that somehow I will get to you."

PK: I was setting off into the unknown.

I was praying,

"Let my letter reach to her."

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

When I was leaving Delhi,

I left behind everything I knew.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

-(WIND RUSHING) -(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Yeah.

LOTTA: It's almost overwhelming to see all this.

Oh, I love this place.

The people.

I get a longing to go back, actually.

I was born in Boras,

a small town here on the west coast of Sweden,

in the year of 1955, 12th of May.

I'm a Taurus.

It's a lot of forest around this area

and lots of lakes.

But it was, uh, a little bit boring actually,

if I should be honest.

My mother was brought up going to church every Sunday,

and due to her upbringing and her responsibility

doing so much for others,

she didn't travel abroad.

I wanted something more.

I wanted to see more than Boras.

-(HORSE NEIGHS) -(UP TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)

I wanted to have magic in my life.

(STREET THRUMMING, CARS HONKING)

I was 18 and I took the boat to London.

It was such a wonderful combination of people.

I mean, this diversity from all over the world.

A really great impact.

We didn't have that in Boras.

My mother, that was a type of liberation,

I think, for her as well,

'cause I did what she wanted to do.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

During my time in London,

I got hold of a calendar from India.

There was one picture that really touched me,

(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)

and it was a stone wheel.

That picture was just talking to me.

And there was something attracting me,

something calling me, I feel.

I saw in the wheel the magic I was searching for.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is the one.

This is our van.

It was '75.

My friends wanted to travel to India by van,

so why not take the chance?

(ADVENTUROUS MUSIC PLAYING)

We went by ferry to Germany

and down to Austria and Yugoslavia.

We took the road many Westerners took to India,

the famous hippie trail,

Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan.

And finally we reached India.

Oh, my God.

It took about three weeks to reach to Delhi.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

PK: My plan was to get to Pakistan

and follow the hippie trail to reach Europe.

But I had no map or anything.

I knew that she lives in a Western country

and the sun is setting that way.

So, that I knew. I was very sure.

I didn't have many things to take with me.

A sleeping bag, I got from the tourists.

I have dry breads, dry fruits I had.

I had only 80 American dollars.

The dollars I had rolled down

and I put it under the belt, you know?

No one believed that I will survive this long trip, I know.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) Thank you.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHING)

(MAN SINGING)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) My plan was to do portraits of people

on the way and support myself.

And in the beginning, people, they're a little nervous.

(PENCIL SCRATCHING)

But then after some time, something happens.

-They open up. -(SPIRITED MUSIC PLAYING)

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) Strangers become friends

within a few minutes only.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) I felt the human connection

and that was creating a strong bond, the friendships.

(SPEAKING IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

(NIGHT BIRD CALLING)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) As a child, people would say I'm stupid.

Untouchables don't have brain.

I learned from Mom,

I should use my creative energy to cope with the discrimination.

(DISCORDANT MUSIC PLAYING)

PRESENTER: Untouchability is a question of birth.

Once an untouchable, always an untouchable.

PK: Those memories were always there

every second of the day.

It's a sweet memory.

Wow.

So many years passed. Wow.

When I first met PK,

I think he had ability to communicate with people

due to his piece of paper and pencil.

I think he was really good-looking.

Cute boy.

Sparkling, and he got an energy and he wanted to do so much.

The first meeting, it was a heart-warming meeting.

Like also that type of feeling that anything can happen.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(LOTTA LAUGHS)

I'm so confused, yes?

Oh, my God. (LAUGHS)

It is written in the heavens that we will meet.

Um...

LOTTA: Suddenly he burst out.

No, no, no. I'm, I'm sorry.

Something about palm leaf or something

and don't hide anything, yes?

Just openly burst out.

(LAUGHS)

No, you are having time to have chai with myself?

-Right now? -Yes, yes.

Uh...

Yes.

So that was quite comical. (LAUGHS)

It is here, it is here.

You're not bringing me to a chapel, are you?

-(LAUGHING) -(TRAFFIC THRUMMING)

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

LOTTA: We went around in Delhi, both night and day,

getting to know each other.

It is, but it might be a little too much for me.

It is that card, it has been destined for you.

-I like blue. -What is your favorite color?

Maybe blue.

You are seeming like somebody who's very determined.

-Very sharp, very intelligent. -(LAUGHS)

Which is why your card, it is number seven.

How do you do that?

Because you are looking into my mind!

You are sharing with me.

-That's why! -How do you know?

(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

So, this is where we are going to get the best chai.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC FADES IN)

Precious moments.

(TRAFFIC THRUMMING)

You know, the last couple of days

just seeing so much that I wouldn't...

It's more than I... Than I dreamed of.

There is something that you have to still see.

Orissa.

My village.

Your home village?

Orissa.

But we are having to take the train from Delhi

and we have to go east.

-Three days. -Mmm-hmm.

Now I'm not saying anything more.

It is for you to decide.

I'm just going to look here,

enjoy with my company with you, just...

We looked up in the sky and the stars and the magic.

So I was so, so happy.

(SINGING)

It's a lullaby.

Can teach me how to sing?

-Of course. -Okay, okay.

We'll try, we'll try, we'll try.

(CLEARS THROAT)

You can say, "Vem kan segla."

Vem kan segla

-Vem kan segla -...segla

I'm a good student, huh?

Very good student. You learn very fast.

(VILLAGERS CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(COWS MOOING)

(BIRDS SINGING)

(SINGING SOFTLY IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) That song, it encouraged me

when I was trying to forget my roots.

-(BREATHING HEAVILY) -(HIGH PITCHED RINGING)

PRESENTER: In their eyes,

the uncleanliness of the untouchables

cannot be removed by washing...

I'm below the animals, you know, they say.

From the very first day in school,

the teacher said, "Don't touch anyone."

-(POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYING) -"You are impure."

I wanted to play with the other children,

but very quickly I understood that I'm not the same as them.

If I touched anybody,

they will run to the river to wash themselves.

Then people got angry, my God.

(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

(BREATHING HARD)

PK: And I could not stand up to them.

PRESENTER 1: So bursting with the fragrance...

PRESENTER 2: For the untouchables,

a minor transgression can be a death sentence.

PRESENTER 1: 28 Harijan women

were burned alive in the village.

PRESENTER 2: They took her to the woods across their home

where they raped, murdered, and mutilated her.

Inside me, something was burning fire.

Why was I born untouchable?

What wrong I have done previous life?

(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(SPEAKING IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) When I was cycling,

I met untouchables on the streets.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(MAN LAUGHING)

(MAN SPEAKING)

(FIRE CRACKLING, CRICKETS CHIRPING)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) When I was around 20 years old,

I left Orissa to travel to Delhi.

I thought, "I'm out of the caste prison now," and um...

Until... (CHUCKLES) I met this girl.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(MAN SPEAKING)

(MAN SPEAKING)

(IN ENGLISH) And he said, "Don't ever talk to our daughter

if you love your life."

(UNSETTLING MUSIC PLAYING)

I said, "Yes, Sir."

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(PK SPEAKING)

(MAN SPEAKING)

(SINGING)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) The first time

I earned money for my art in Delhi,

I said, "First thing, the most expensive sari, Mom,

"I'd like to buy for Mom," I said.

-(TRAIN CLATTERING) -(POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYING)

I took it back home to her in Eastern India, in Orissa.

Thank God my mom,

who had never been to school

but she'd taught me,

"Open your heart," she said.

"Don't close your heart," she said.

That is the door.

The heart is the door to wholeness.

(CHILDREN CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

I didn't want her to feel like an untouchable.

(TRAIN HORN BLARING)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(TRAIN CLATTERING)

LOTTA: I just told friends, I'm going to see his home.

A little bit I think they could say,

"How did you dare to just follow one

you just met a few days before?"

That was common at the time.

People travelled to different places for holidays

and they had a little quick romance,

and that was quite natural for many people to live that way.

Why not take the chance to see other parts?

(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)

For me, that was just following the heart and just doing,

just go in the flow.

(TRAIN HORN BLARING)

It took a few days just reaching there.

(TRAIN WHEELS SCREECHING)

Finally, we got down to his father's place.

Then I felt I must get dressed so I will look decent.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

So, he came out on the veranda

and I stood there, and PK was a bit surprised.

"Oh my God," I said.

"She looks amazing."

She has dressed in sari.

So she was more than accepted by my father.

And he asked me, "Oh, oh, just wait.

"Is she a Taurus or not?"

"She's a typical Taurus, Papa."

(COWS MOOING)

But now I felt she was not only the woman of that prophecy.

She was far, far more than that.

Ahhh!

You're a very good rider, huh?

-Me? -Yes.

Thank you. I haven't done it in a while.

And you are doing the riding in the sari very easily.

That is very good.

He joked a lot and we laughed

and the heart was almost bursting.

(LAUGHS)

It was a really, really deep joy,

-which I'd never felt before. -(FILM WHIRRING)

It was a fantastic time, I felt, yeah.

(BICYCLES CLACKING)

But we just met a few minutes total,

I mean, it could be a few hours,

and then she followed me, you know?

It's strange for me, actually,

to understand her feeling at that time.

(INSECTS CHIRPING)

YOUNG PK: So, were you also looking for someone?

YOUNG LOTTA: Looking for somebody?

(CHUCKLES) Do you think I was looking for you?

I was not the one with the prophecy.

(CHUCKLES)

I just stumbled upon you.

So, why did you come to India?

I wanted to find something, not someone.

I came looking for some wonder, and...

I feel like I found it.

But you're still not telling to me

why you are coming with me,

why you are, uh, sitting with me here now?

I trusted you, I think.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

I'm not sure if you are knowing about...

myself being Dalit.

Being?

Dalit.

No. I'm sorry, I don't...

LOTTA: I knew a bit about the caste system from school,

but the reality shocked me.

PK started talking a little bit about it, but not very much.

(MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING)

He felt that he... He was not good enough.

The feeling that you're not worth...

You're not worthy.

I could feel the pain actually, yes.

A lot of pain.

(INSECTS CHIRPING, BIRDS SINGING)

I was of course a bit worried.

It was a lot to take in.

(MELANCHOLIC MUSIC CONTINUES)

(BICYCLE CLATTERING)

PK: I knew the first country I had to get to was Pakistan.

(RUMBLING)

Vem kan segla forutan vind?

Vem kan ro utan aror?

(SHEEP BLEATING, BELLS RINGING)

I cycled hundreds of miles across India.

-(INSECTS CHIRPING) -(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

When I got to the border of Pakistan,

I felt very proud of myself.

This was a huge moment for me.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

GUARD: No visa, no entry.

They said no.

(BICYCLE CLACKING)

PK: As an Indian, I cannot cross Pakistan.

I felt like they were looking down on me for even trying.

-(BICYCLE CLATTERS LOUDLY) -(CAMEL BELLOWS)

So maybe I was stupid, I was a fool.

Like everybody has told me.

(MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

I went to Amritsar to think over what to do next.

I knew I would not go back to my old life.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

-PK: (IN ENGLISH) Fifty years! -(LAUGHING)

(WOMAN SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHING)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) Repeatedly, I wrote to Lotta.

YOUNG PK: "My dearest Lotta.

-(BROOM SWEEPING IN BACKGROUND) -"I love you truly by my heart.

"As long as I'm alive, I cannot leave you."

"My heart says that Lotta is my life partner,

"my spiritual wife..."

YOUNG PK: "...wife, till to my death.

"Lotta, I will find a way of crossing Pakistan somehow."

PK: One or two or three letters I've written,

but I don't have any reply.

(PK THEN MAN SPEAKING IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHS)

(LAUGHING)

(POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYING)

(PK SPEAKING)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) Mr. Jain, a stranger I met,

he paid the money for the ticket

from Amritsar to Kabul,

and he was very kind to me.

(MR. JAIN SPEAKING IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

(PK SPEAKING)

(IN ENGLISH) Thank you.

(AIRPLANE HUMMING)

I'd never been on an airplane before.

PILOT: All crew, take your seats.

PK: "Now I have become a bird," I said.

(AIRPLANE ROARING)

(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)

PK: I arrived in Kabul 15th of February.

I had been on the road for almost one month.

My bike arrived after some days on the bus

with the help of Westerners.

(CITY THRUMMING, PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

A fascinating city.

There were all the hippies that were gathered,

and truck drivers were coming there also.

It was a meeting place.

Those days, you could write letters to any countries

and these postal departments

used to keep them for travelers.

With other travelers,

we used to search our own letters.

WOMAN: What are you looking for?

I'm looking for a letter from somebody that I'm, uh...

Who's my partner in Sweden.

-Okay. -Yes, yes.

Have you waited long?

Yes.

Yes.

You are having love for somebody?

Yeah, I love.

Not right now, but...

Well, maybe. (LAUGHS)

When... When the destiny is happening,

I... I believe that, uh, we are having somebody for us.

WOMAN: But there's just one?

I, yes. I believe

-it is just one person. -Okay.

-You are believing? -I don't know.

I think there's so many people in the world.

During our lives we only meet a small amount of those people.

It's just, yeah, when you find that one

that matches up with your timeline at that point...

Mm.

And that was quite nice talking to each other.

And we used to sit for hours, you know?

-So, you're all having tattoos? -WOMAN: Yeah.

MAN: I've got a few, but this is one of my favorites.

-PK: "We love". -MAN: Yeah.

WOMAN: Nice. PK: What is the meaning?

So, I had a friend who grew up in a really religious family,

and he had trouble talking to his parents about a few things.

So when he shared this with me, he was a bit vulnerable

and he was scared about being disowned.

I got this in memory of him

because it doesn't matter what gender we are,

what sex we like,

at the end of the day, we need love

and we need to be loved.

No, it is very, uh...

it is very nice.

This one is...

"Create your own destiny."

Have you had any luck looking for your letter?

I'm talking to you also, how I can...

-(WOMAN LAUGHING) -You are distracting me!

(SHUFFLING QUIETLY)

Thank you.

-Thank you so much. -Thank you.

-Good luck on your journey. -Bye.

WOMAN: Nice to meet you.

(PEOPLE PRAYING IN DISTANCE)

YOUNG LOTTA: "Dear PK.

I was rather shocked when your letter

arrived yesterday morning.

PK, to be honest, I'm a bit worried

to learn about your plans to go by road all alone.

That's not the easiest way of travelling, believe me.

Another thing, a year has passed...

...passed since I saw you.

It's a long time.

When I think back on this period...

YOUNG LOTTA: ...what you saw of me in India

can be different from what you see of me here.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

It's rather late, I'll have to be up early tomorrow morning.

Take good care of yourself.

-Lots of love, Lotta. -(DRIVING MUSIC PLAYING)

(BICYCLE CLACKING)

PK: Her letter was short.

But to hear anything from her lifted my spirits.

I managed to get a visa for Afghanistan.

The problem was the visa was expiring in two weeks,

so I had to cycle fast or I will be deported.

(DRIVING MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

(BICYCLE CLACKING RELENTLESSLY)

When I was cycling through the countryside of Afghanistan,

-people were very curious. -(CHICKENS CLUCKING)

I couldn't speak their language, but we are smiling.

PK: And then this is the deer, okay?

And then on this side,

you can see which animal this is.

-Girls: Tiger. -PK: No, huh?

-Girl: Lion. -PK: Correct.

I love these animals.

They're huge animals in the jungle.

And on this side, other way around,

I have drawn lions.

PK: What is this animal? GIRL: Cheetah!

It is another animal which is having the spots.

GIRL: Leopard.

PK: Yes, correct.

And this is which animal?

GIRLS: Zebra! PK: Correct!

And nothing, this side is empty, you can see.

I'm folding it now.

PK: I'm going to fold it like this.

Then I'm going to fold it like this.

(SPEAKS MAGICIAN'S FLOURISH, LAUGHS)

One, two, three!

There it is!

-My face! -Wow.

It's the moustache man.

(LAUGHING)

(BICYCLE CLACKING)

-(CAMELS GRUMBLING) -(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

(BELL RINGING)

(CLUCKING)

-You are married? -MAN: Yeah.

Forty years.

First time I saw her and lost my heart.

Okay! (LAUGHING)

She's also feeling same thing?

Yeah, yeah.

-She believe me. -Okay.

She's now, uh, disabled.

Her body is disabled.

Now I take care of her.

This is my...

-This is your sacrifice. -Yeah.

Yeah.

I want to take care till end.

Yeah.

Now you're young.

You can do it, around the world.

You go, go on.

(INSECTS CHIRPING LOUDLY)

(BELLS TINKLING)

-Bismillah. -Bismillah.

Bismillah.

It's very tasty.

(SPEAKING A BLESSING OVER THE FOOD)

PK: I never experienced

the kindness of strangers like this,

but I could not interpret as a positive sign, you know?

-(SHEEP BLEATING) -(BIKE BELL RINGING)

So, I had my own war and conflict within, always.

(BELL RINGING)

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)

(SOLEMN MUSIC FADES IN)

YOUNG PK: "Dearest Lotta,

I hope you have received my previous letter

which I wrote to you from Kabul.

I haven't seen anybody for two or three days.

Some days I'm starving.

Some days I'm so cold

that I can't feel my feet and hands.

I feel like my body's going to give up.

I'm scared.

I'm so anxious to get a letter from you.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(RAIN PELTING)

I thought maybe you are too busy in your schoolwork.

Maybe you find something wrong in my letter,

but perhaps you have just forgotten about me.

PK: It's a long time, many months since I saw her.

Still now I didn't understand how she was thinking.

(POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYING)

Despite all the difficulties,

I knew that I had to keep going.

And it looked as if I will make it

to the Iranian border in time

before my visa ran out.

I was so close to the border.

(CAR HONKING)

(CAR HONKING INCESSANTLY)

(BICYCLE CRASHES)

(HONKING CONTINUES)

Are you okay?

Come on.

Come, come, come, come.

(WOMAN COUGHING)

You can walk? Come, I've got you.

-Put your weight on me. -(WOMAN GROANS)

Slowly.

-Slowly. -(WOMAN GRUNTS)

I've got you. I've got you.

PK: The lady was bleeding.

She had lost her teeth,

but she was not dead.

Hey! Hey!

Stop! Stop!

Come.

Come, come.

Come, come, come, come, come, come.

Stand, stand, stand! Stand. Help, help.

(WOMAN COUGHING)

(TRUCK RUMBLING)

PK: I couldn't leave her on her own.

We returned to Kabul.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(BABY CRYING)

I sat with her for many days...

and my visa ran out.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(MAN SINGING BIYA KE BAREM BE MAZAR)

PK: I felt that being back in Kabul

meant that my chances of ever seeing Lotta were over.

(TRAIN HORN BLARING)

(SINGING RESUMES)

YOUNG PK: Kabul.

My dearest Lotta.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING HAPPILY)

Lotta, I was supposed to leave Kabul

a few days ago, but I could not.

I helped a girl call Liana, who had a car accident.

She works in an art gallery in Austria.

My own emotions are concentrated on you day and night.

That is why I want to be with you always

all my life till my physical death.

I always lose myself in the ocean of thought of you.

(HIGH TEMPO RHYTHMIC DRUMS PLAYING)

Lotta, please do write to me.

LOTTA: I like his way of expressing.

Nice.

So, after the journey to his home village,

then I finally had to leave for Sweden.

We actually made a little plan

and that I should just go home to Sweden,

I should fulfil my work till June, July,

and then I would come back in August.

-(WHISTLE BLOWING) -(SIGNAL CLANKING)

(TRAIN HISSING, BRAKES SCREECHING)

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm not, uh, wanting you to go.

I know.

I know that, but I will be back in August, okay?

You have to trust me on it.

Okay?

Mm?

(MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING)

(TRAIN HORN BLARES LOUDLY)

(TRAIN RUMBLING)

(TRAIN CLACKING)

(TRAIN HORN BLARING)

(CROWS CAWING)

(WHEEL CLACKING)

(MELANCHOLY MUSIC CONTINUES)

LOTTA: That separation, that was so painful.

And I remember I couldn't stop crying.

I was crying for hours.

On the way back from India to Sweden,

I wrote a letter to my parents

and I mentioned that I found my life partner

and I'd like to be with him.

(TREE RUSTLING)

But of course, my father wanted me to study and all that.

My mother said,

"You get to know each other more through letters."

I started writing some, but as, uh,

I didn't like writing, actually, to be very honest.

(FILM REEL WHIRRING)

I think there was a dialogue between the mind and the heart.

Of course the heart was just saying, "Go, go, go."

But the mind said, "You have to be practical."

I had to make a life for myself in Boras.

(SLOW PIANO MUSIC PLAYING)

Of course it was a long time.

Life went on.

And of course, India was very far away.

That's how it was.

(BICYCLE CLACKING, CREAKING)

PK: Eventually, I managed to get another visa.

But, uh, when I finally crossed into Iran,

I was exhausted and very, very lonely.

-(FLY BUZZING) -(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(GOATS BLEATING)

(DOG BARKING)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

PK: A letter will not come.

Not today, not maybe this week.

Maybe never.

How long have you not seen each other?

Now it is becoming, uh, one...

Almost it is one year ago.

Almost one year?

-(TRAFFIC HUMMING, CAR HONKING) -(POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYING)

MAN: Maybe it was just a holiday romance for her.

Life is not fair.

This world is very cruel.

WOMAN 1: We have delicious mangoes.

If you try it once, you will never want

to try one from anywhere else.

WOMAN 2: It's very nice, you know?

In the Caribbean, they're the best fruits ever.

PK: Where are you from?

Cuba.

-Caribbean, you know? -PK: Oh. No.

It's far from here.

-PK: How far it is? -Ooh...

WOMAN 1: A lot.

PK: And why you are leaving, uh, Cuba?

Uh, the situation in general there was not good.

Yes. Only my mom is in Cuba now.

Mmm.

It was the worst part for leaving.

PK: She's not wanting to leave?

Yes, she want, but it's not so easy.

She also has my grandmother.

She didn't want to leave her there alone, so...

Maybe someday I will meet her.

I miss my mom so much.

WOMAN: (FAINTLY) I hope someday I can take care of...

PK: As a child, my mom was everything I had.

I was in Delhi in '73, May.

I had a dream.

My mom was coming and standing at the door

to say goodbye to me, and I knew.

So, I took the train the same night.

After three days, I arrived and she was on her deathbed.

(SOBS SOFTLY)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

(WIND HOWLING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)

PK: When I returned to Delhi after my mom passed away,

I was haunted by my own identity as an untouchable.

PRESENTER 1: They are backward in every respect.

PRESENTER 2: They're just cleaning human filth

with their bare hands.

-(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) -(BICYCLE CLACKING)

PK: I didn't know if I could survive anymore.

And I tried to kill myself.

I was thinking, "It's okay to die."

(SOBBING)

Then at that moment,

I felt the whole world has come to hell for me.

PRESENTER: And these people are unclean.

They're less than human.

They're like animals.

Once an untouchable, always an untouchable.

(SCREAMING)

(TRAIN CLACKING FADES OUT)

(SEA ROARING)

(WIND HOWLING)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

PK: In Iran by the Caspian Sea,

I was both exhausted physically and mentally.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

PK: (IN ENGLISH) Please, you just go.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

Hello? Okay.

Drink some water, okay?

You'll... You'll be fine.

Drink some, okay?

PK: In that moment, I needed somebody to lift me up.

They were all medical students, Iranian.

They were on a picnic on the Caspian Sea,

and they invited me.

PK: I can, I can take?

WOMEN: Yes. Yeah, yeah, of course.

WOMAN: We have something here also.

We have kebab also, we have bread also.

WOMAN 1: What now? WOMAN 2: Yeah. Fruit?

PK: I told them everything I was doing.

That I'm in love,

that I'm on the way to meet my beloved.

WOMAN 1: I think she's lucky to have you.

WOMAN 2: She's very lucky.

WOMAN 3: She is actually very, very beautiful.

WOMEN: Yeah!

WOMAN 1: You need to eat. You have a long way ahead.

PK: I'll take a small piece.

WOMAN 2: Yes, you can have anything!

(WATER RUSTLING)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

YOUNG PK: 1977, Caspian Beach.

(SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING)

YOUNG PK: Dearest Lotta.

I hope everything is going well for you.

It is about 6:00 in the evening.

The sun is about to set on the far horizon of Caspian Sea.

By the nearby trees, there are some birds,

small birds, singing their evening songs.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

There are some irregular shapes of clouds

floating on the western corner of the sky.

I've been feeling very sad, Lotta,

but as I sit here now,

I'm waiting for the new morning,

I feel like things will change.

(BICYCLE CLACKING, CREAKING)

(UPLIFTING MUSIC FADES IN)

PK: As I left Asia,

I couldn't believe how far I have come.

It was only at that point

I could accept kindness from strangers.

MAN: Handsome.

I will give for my mom.

I will send to her. Thank you.

One day you will be with her. Don't worry.

Everyone has a dream.

But we should, we have to make the dream.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC CONTINUES)

(PELICANS SQUAWKING)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

(TRAFFIC THRUMMING)

PK: Istanbul, when I came, I became very happy I remember,

because, um,

that is the meeting point of East and West, you know?

(WINGS FLUTTERING)

PK: And there was something waiting for me

at the post office.

When I opened it, my God, there was a ticket.

It was a train ticket from Istanbul to Vienna.

Liana, the woman I had saved from the car crash

had sent it to thank me.

I realized my actions really helped this woman.

I wasn't nothing.

It was beyond my imagination.

(TRAIN CLACKING)

PK: It was amazing to see Europe from the train.

(TRAIN WHOOSHING, HORN BLARING)

Across Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria.

Physically I was very tired,

but within me, I felt very proud and strong

and on the way to reach my destination.

-(LILTING VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYING) -(BICYCLE CLATTERING)

YOUNG PK: Dearest Lotta,

It was morning, 7:30 a.m,

I arrived here in Vienna.

I'm finally in Europe.

I'm getting closer and closer.

As I pushed my bike through the streets today,

I felt excited about my new life here.

I'm coming to you.

Yours, loving PK.

(BIRD CHIRPING)

(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

PK: A gallery owner in Vienna took a few paintings

and gave me a train ticket to Sweden.

I'm going towards the north and she's there, my love.

And you know, very, very happy and overjoyed,

I mean, I must say.

And I said, "Oh, my God.

"No one will ask my caste or group or tribe."

I'm getting very excited to do the magic.

Long time I'm doing magic tricks now.

-Now I'll find your card, okay? -Okay. (LAUGHS)

Nine of hearts. There's too many hearts.

So you are cheating in the cards, no?

-I wasn't. -Yes, I know that you are...

OFFICER: Sir, your passport, please.

Where are you from, sir?

PK: Sir, I'm coming from India, sir.

OFFICER: Where are you going?

Sweden.

Do you carry any drugs?

No, no, I'm not carrying, uh, drugs.

OFFICER: Give me your bag.

And open it.

-Sir, this is... -I'll check. Okay.

Sir, there is no drugs in the bag.

Sir? You can see, sir.

There are no drugs, Sir.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

OFFICER: Disgusting.

Sir, I'm coming on a cycle.

Sorry, Sir.

PK: There are many passengers, but they came to me.

The only one with black skin.

They told me that first,

"We are going to contact your embassy

and they will book a ticket for you

and we will send you back to India."

They made me feel worthless.

The feeling I had my entire life.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES)

(BICYCLE CLACKING, CLATTERING)

(MOTORBIKES RUMBLING)

All the efforts for love is gone to the hell.

(POIGNANT MUSIC FADES IN)

YOUNG PK: "Lotta, how I fell in love so deeply,

"I cannot imagine myself.

"Do you know what I think to do for you to make you ever happy?

"Whilst I will take you to my tribal land,

"the bright sunny plain among the green hills,

"I will build a small hut on Mahanandi Bank

"to live, we both.

"And we will go for a morning boat,

"when birds begin to fly. (VOICE CRACKS)

"No one will be there to watch us.

"Only the nature,

"with whom we will be friendly,

"and we can learn from him the real wealth of love.

"We will have peace and everlasting joy.

"Yours, loving PK."

I haven't read it for...

since he wrote it, maybe. (QUIETLY READING TO HERSELF)

So this, yeah...

(BIRDS SINGING, INSECTS BUZZING)

LOTTA: Fifty years passed since that visit to India.

But that's a memory from that trip

that will always be kept in my mind and heart.

(FLAPPING)

We spent another week together in Orissa and PK said,

"I will take you to a temple close to the sea.

"It's a sun temple,

"and I think you will really like this place."

You have to close your eyes like that.

Yeah, I am closing them.

-Okay. Hold here. -Okay, yeah.

Now trust me, okay?

When I'm only walking, then you walk, okay?

Okay.

Now let's walk.

I'm scared already. Okay.

-I'm walking, walking. -Okay.

Now you can take a right.

Now, stop.

Take a right.

-Yes, yes, yes, yes. -Yeah?

Okay, now I'm taking my hands off.

-You keep your eyes closed. -Okay.

I'll tell you when to open, okay?

-Okay. -Taking hands, hands are open.

Now...

Please open your eyes.

(MYSTICAL MUSIC PLAYING)

I just...

I almost stopped breathing, you know?

Do you like it?

Are there many wheels like this in India?

No. This is the only one in the world.

(LAUGHS)

I have it. In London.

LOTTA: PK had brought magic into my life.

I... I was crying.

It was so, so overwhelming.

Then it was unified.

We were meant for each other.

It's not... It's tears of, um, of happiness, of joy.

Thank you.

The first kiss. (LAUGHS)

Oh, my God. Oh...

And our last kiss maybe for...

I... I felt like I'm the emperor of...

I have conquered the whole empire of love now.

(LAUGHING)

Oh, she's my empress.

It's that feeling, you know? I'm no more an untouchable.

I'm taller than the sky, and I was... Oh, my God!

You can't explain it.

Words are not accurate enough, my dear friend.

(ROMANTIC MUSIC PLAYING)

PK: In that moment on the train,

I realized I had value.

I felt deeply I was meant to be there.

This is my partner. Her address is in Sweden.

(OFFICERS CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

Enjoy your travel.

(FOOTSTEPS RECEDING)

PK: I convinced them to let me go.

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

Now I know you can choose

which story to believe about yourself.

How much faith you have got in that.

Then it takes form, I feel.

What you think, you become.

(WHOOSHING)

(TRAIN CLACKING)

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

My destination is love.

I'm coming closer and closer.

I arrived in Boras on 28th May, 1977,

123 days after I left Delhi.

The past is gone.

Now the present is here.

(BELL RINGS)

I felt very proud.

But alone I would not have made it.

All the kind people I had met had changed me.

All humans only look for happiness, for love.

Our common spot.

(SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHING)

We all know she's waiting for you.

WOMAN: You have to believe in yourself

and look deep inside you.

I think it's all inside you, and this is hope.

And you just have to believe.

Thank you.

PK: The journey taught me that if we don't love ourselves,

then love cannot flourish.

Love cannot reach to others.

It is very simple, actually.

(TIRES CRUNCHING)

That's the cycle of love.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

(INTENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)

(CHUCKLES)

I can't believe you came.

I promised you I'd come.

PK: A happy life began.

LOTTA: My love...

(UPLIFTING MUSIC FADES IN)

You are bringing the happiness to your life

when you are sharing your talents with others.

(SCREAMING, CHEERING)

(APPLAUDING)

-Ah... -My goddess of love.

(LAUGHING)

(EMOTIVE GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)

You said you may be shy

But darling I have seen you shine

Oh, you can cause a riot

I will love you dark and light

I will love you dark and light

So sometimes it may seem

You gave away your self-esteem

To that critic deep inside

Know that to some you're a dream, my child

I will love you dark and light

I will love you dark and light

Oh my body

You are a beauty

Oh my darling

You are a wonder

You are a wonder

I will love you dark and light

And I will love you dark and light

I will love you dark and light

And I will love you

I will love you dark and light

I will love you dark and light