Documentary Chronicles Artist's 6,000-Mile Bicycle Journey for Love

A new documentary, The Cycle of Love, recounts the real-life story of Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, known as PK, an Indian street artist who cycled roughly 6,000 miles from India to Sweden in pursuit of a woman he had met only briefly, according to an interview with director Orlando von Einsiedel published by The Guardian.

According to the account, the story began in New Delhi in December 1975, when a Swedish traveler named Lotta von Schedvin sat for a portrait by PK on the street. The Guardian reported that in the ten minutes it took him to sketch her, the two fell for each other and began a brief romance, during which PK brought Lotta to meet his family in his village in eastern India.

Lotta soon had to leave, packing up her Volkswagen campervan to return home to Sweden with friends, the report said. PK, described as heartbroken, vowed to follow her, but could not afford a plane ticket, according to the account.

Instead, per the report, PK bought a secondhand Raleigh bicycle and, with $80 sewn into the waistband of his trousers, set out to cycle across the world to reach her. He reportedly used the knowledge that the sun sets in the west to guide his direction, following what was known as the hippy trail through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey before crossing Europe on his way to Sweden.

Von Einsiedel, who directed the documentary about the journey, told The Guardian that the tale is one that seems almost too extraordinary to be true. The film details how the couple's early romance and separation set in motion an arduous cross-continental trip that forms the narrative core of the documentary.

Further details of the journey's completion and the couple's eventual reunion were not included in the available excerpt of the report.