The film's lead Sriparna Banerjee was also a professional swimmer herself in the 1970s and at the time of casting a student of Jadavpur University.

[4] In a 2012 interview, veteran actor, Soumitra Chatterjee, called Koni one of the best films of his career.

He even recalled using film's catch-phrase "Fight-Koni-fight" in hard times, as a chant to himself to lift his "aging spirits".

He picks Kanakchampa Pal alias Kony (character played by Sriparna Banerjee) from a slum of Calcutta and grooms her to be part of the Bengal Swimming team to compete at the National Swimming Championship.

However, politics, poverty and social stigma emerges as distinct roadblocks in their path.