New Delhi: The makers released the official trailer of upcoming Bollywood film, Matto Ki Saikal on Monday, August 22, 2022. The film will release in theatres on September 16, 2022.
Set in a village, the trailer shows how a labourer named Matto is a daily wager. His employer cuts his pay for trivial reasons and he struggles with work, his bicycle, and running the household.
Matto needs to travel from one village to another for work. The trailer opens with a labourer blaming Matto’s bicycle for the delay in reaching their workplace. They are stranded in the outskirts as Matto tries repairing the vehicle.
The scene is followed by revealing how he saves his daily wages to feed the family as they decide what to cook for dinner. All his colleagues question the reason for Matto showing up late at work, to which he nonchalantly replies that there are new faults in the old bicycle of his everyday which make him late.
Meanwhile, Matto’s employer too refuses to pay his entire wage because according to him, Matto was not punctual. The following scenes only depict the hardships and struggles Matto faces on the personal front as well as with the bicycle.
Even the mechanic sarcastically suggests him to change the vehicle but Matto changes the topic and feels it futile to sit with him. However, one evening when Matto was buying vegetables, a tractor happens to crush his beloved bicycle, deeming it unfit to ride.
Deeply saddened about not being able to reach the workplace coupled with colleagues and employers calling him out for being late every day, he visits a kirana store to look for a 24-inch cycle but retracts on hearing its price. The film has scenes replete with hope, happiness, and hard work in order to feed the family. The trailer beautifully portrays the familial ties and weaves them into a socio-realism backdrop of class and labour.
Well-known Bollywood producer and director, Prakash Jha, who has given several political and social films, will essay the lead character in the upcoming film. Jha immediately agreed to play the character and also extended assistance in the production.
Talking about the film, Prakash Jha said, “The story of the film touched my heart. It is the story of such helpless labourers who construct huge highways, bridges, and roads despite their own lives being stuck between rocky roads.”
“The film took me back to the year 1980 when I began my career with documentary films and Damul, which was made on the condition of labourers. When the film’s director Ghani approached me with this script, he asked me play the lead role of Matto but when I heard the story, I not only said yes to acting but also extended a helping hand to the production,” he added.
Directed by M. Ghani, produced by Sudhir Mishra, and presented by Prakash Jha Productions, Matto Ki Saikal features Prakash Jha in the titular role.
(Avya Mathur)