The Flight (Urojahaj) describes the mad dream of a simple man to fly the rusted shell of a downed World War II Japanese fighter plane that he finds in the forest.
After discovering the crash site of a World War II Japanese plane, Bachchu Mondal decides to rebuild it and fly it one day. His project doesn't go unnoticed by the authorities and by ghosts who haunt the place, all victims of broken dreams.—Buddhadeb Dasgupta
In a rural Bengali village soaked with tradition, Bachchu lives a happy, carefree existence with his loving young wife and bright school-age son. He's shown as a little simple-minded, like when he joyfully chases passing airplanes like a small child or stops to help an artist paint a roadside shrine for the sheer fun of it. But he's lucid enough to tell his son to study and not grow up to be a laborer like he is.
Bachchu is prized as a car mechanic, but he often cuts work to be with his wife. Tender scenes of them lying in bed show how they're still very much in love. There is mystery in the forest. The appearance of strange costumed dancers brings the first hint of the supernatural into Bachchu's world. Then another group of dancing forest spirits follows him curiously to watch what happens when he comes upon the old airplane covered with leaves. He can't resist its allure. First he scrubs and paints it, then yearns to fit it with an engine and fly it. When he shows it to his wife, she looks amazed; when his boss at the garage sees it, he laughs in disbelief. A plane engine is expensive, he says, but Bachchu quickly retorts that he will sell his house - even if it means putting his wife and son out on the streets.
As he works obsessively on the plane, the forest spirits warn him not to go overboard. Unfortunately, none of their hard-learned wisdom curbs Bachchu's infatuation with the airplane and he continues on his collision course with destiny.
He eventually gets entangled with some serious dream-busters: the police. First, they remind him the plane is government property, like everything else in India. Then they arrest him for wanting to fly a war plane and drop bombs on people. His dream of restoring the plane for peaceful flights, a "song of the sky," crashes against the brick wall of heartless authority.
