Matto Ki Saikil is an emotionally moving tale that looks at the dreams and desires as well as the mental agony of daily wage workers who battle every day to make their ends meet, said actor-filmmaker Prakash Jha.

Billed as a story of hope, the film is set in Mathura and features Jha as Matto, a labourer whose family wants to buy him a cycle for his daily travel.

“It’s a story that is close to lakhs of Indians who we don't see — the workers who built everything, houses, roads, flyovers, railways, and it is because of them that we have this whole big infrastructure and the wheel of progress is moving,” said Jha.

"In our day-to-day life we don't think about these people; they don't exist for us. We don’t know what they go through and what their dreams are,” he added.

Matto Ki Saikil, which had its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in October 2020 and was later screened at the South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF), is not trying to create any revolution, according to Jha.

"It is just trying to make you peep into these characters that we don't even see and who do not matter to us,” he said.

Explaining how he had prepared himself for the film, Jha said he interacted with daily labourers on the streets of Mathura to understand their life, plight and desires. “There is no set way, you have to keep looking on how you can play the character. Read the script, understand the ambience, read the background and create your own story. I kept looking at people who are like Matto.”

Having acted in films such as Saand Ki Aankh (2019) and Jai Gangaajal (2016), the actor-director said he did not have a particular process of getting into the skin of a character. “In Mathura, I spent a lot of time with people waiting to get picked up for a day’s job — you observe them and then you become them.”

The filmmaker said the pandemic brought to the fore the suffering of daily wage workers of the country.“We have suddenly understood their value. Maybe all that sentiment is connected with the story.”

Matto Ki Saikil, which made its debut in theatres on Friday, is directed by M. Gani and produced by Sudhirbhai Mishra.