Movie Review - Poorna by Suhel Johar


Poorna Is Like A Practical Lesson In Grit and Determination.
 
 
Bollywood has lately been churning out biopics by the dozen. Most demonstrate a penchant for melodramatic excess. But not so Poorna. In bringing to the screen the remarkable true story of the youngest girl in history to conquer Mount Everest, director Rahul Bose, helming a film after a 15-year hiatus, settles for an understated mode.

Born in the rural area of ​​Nizamabad district of present-day Telangana state-Pali, Poorna Malawat, who had miraculously reached the world's highest mountain peak Everest in 2014 at the age of 13 years 11 months.  At this age, Poorna is the youngest girl to touch the peak.

Poorna lives in a climate of overwhelming hopelessness - a fact brought out with striking efficacy in the 'poverty game' that has Poorna and her schoolmates throwing light on their dire circumstances with all the innocence of childhood. But thanks to a couple of strong allies in her climbing coach Sekhar Babu (Gyanendra Tripathi) and IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar (Rahul Bose), she gets a well-deserved shot at altering her life for the better. She grabs the opportunity with all her might.

Rahul Bose has brought this tribal girl's story of conflict without glamor or exaggerated melodrama.  He sees and feels everything from a natural human perspective. Bose has played his roles well on the screen and behind it.  They maintain balance. 

The beauty of the film is that it has been very close to the truth. The film introduces corruption in the government education system, its actual situation, education of girls in rural backward areas, child marriage and the entire system.  The muted methods he deploys enhance this sensitively crafted female-centric, triumph-against-all-odds cinematic account.

Poorna doesn't mark the summit of sports-themed filmmaking. It's no heart-pounding cliffhanger. As mountaineering is a slow and difficult process, in which there is no competition and everyone wins together, the thrill of competition in the movie is missing. So it never soars to the kind of rarefied heights that are scaled by the plucky Adivasi girl whose inspirational exploits the film celebrates. Segments of the audience might however be left feeling a tad shortchanged by the limited focus on the eventual expedition that catapulted Poorna into mountaineering history.

But Poorna still works well enough - both as soulful cinema and simple, straightforward storytelling  that is at once compelling and winsome. Authenticity is the key to the clarity of Bose’s  vision. He chooses actors and locations that are as true to the original milieu as cinematically possible. The rest just follows .

The narrative sweeps us into an emotional realism that is at once light and dramatic, pumping up the saga of resilience and humanism with vignettes and frames that form a panoramic arc over the film’s rugged landscape.

The screenplay by Prashant Pandey and Shreya Dev Verma, steadfastly true to the purpose of the film, abjures distracting detours. Cinematography by Subhransu the narrative of the film totally. Editing by Manan Mehra is good. Music by Tanuj Tiku is effective.

It also draws enormous strength from the deeply affecting performances by newcomer Aditi Inamdar (she is perfectly cast in the role of the resolute Poorna) and as is S. Mariya as Poorna's spunky cousin Priya, who eggs the heroine on to change her fate. Aditi and Mariya are such naturals that they do not need to 'act' to convey their emotions. Bose as R.S. Praveen Kumar,  the unwavering mentor firm in his belief that it is his responsibility as a bureaucrat to facilitate positive change in the lives of the most disadvantaged, justifies his character. The rest of the cast comprising of Dhritiman Chatterjee, Heeba Shah, Gyanendra Tripathi, Dr. Rayala Harischandra, Manoj Kumar,Ravi.Wuyyuru,  Harsha Vardhan and Arif Zakaria are good in their individual roles.

On the whole, Poorna Is A Must Watch Film.

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