Poorna Movie Review: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

In a recent interview, Rahul Bose said that sports biopics appeal to the masses because the audience has become too cynical to accept or be impressed by fictional heroes and Bose’s directorial venture Poorna is one such film which will impress and inspire anyone who watches it.

For those who do not know this, Poorna is inspired by the real-life story of a 13 -year-old tribal girl named Poorna Malavath from Telangana who became the youngest girl in history to scale Mount Everest on 25th May, 2014.

Starring Aditi Inamdar in the lead role, Poorva revolves around the life of this girl from a poor family, who attends a Social Welfare school only because the government promises students a meal.

While at the school, Poorna comes across Dr. Praveen Kumar (Rahul Bose), who mentors her and helps her explore her true calling-rock climbing. How Poorna manages to scale Mount Everest despite many challenges, forms the rest of the plot.

Aditi Inamdar, who makes her debut with this film, will simply bowl you over with her natural performance and you may wonder at the sheer talent that can be found in non-actors. Bose is restrained, graceful, dignified and impressive as the gentle mentor with an inner strength to face any challenge that life throws at him.

As for the film itself, Bose deserves a pat on his back simply for making all of us aware about Poorna Malavath with this film. It is quite unfortunate when a teenager from a tribal village in India, scales the Mount Everest through sheer grit and determination and millions of Indians don’t get to know about her unless someone decides to make a film about it.

Poorna is not just a film, but also a source of light that illuminates the conditions of social welfare schemes by the government and the plight of certain sections of the society. There is one scene in the film where these bunch of girls from poor families play a game wherein they have to compete about who is the poorest and though the scene may make you grin at their cheekiness, it will also pack a punch to the gut. The film has been shot quite realistically and beautifully and certain scenes in the film will make you realise what a tough task it must have been to shoot this film.

However, the film seems to focus more on Poorna’s personal life than her Mount Everest expedition (the makers have spent very less time on the Mount Everest scenes), though I am not so sure how adrenaline-pumping it would have been because mountaineering is a sport unlike boxing or wrestling where there are winners and losers.

However, Poorna is an awe-inspiring tale, without a doubt and despite the lack of A-listers and larger-than-life characters, is a film worth watching for sure...