Movie Review - Poorna by Suhel Johar
Poorna
Is Like A Practical Lesson In Grit and Determination.
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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