''Poorna'' is a 2017 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', ''Anuranan'', ''Antaheen'', ''Laptop'' and ''The Japanese Wife''. ...

. The film stars himself with Aditi Inamdar as Malavath Poorna, the youngest girl to climb

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

. The film released in India on 31 March 2017 to positive reviews. The film was screened at the 2017

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

where it was nominated on the festival's list of "30 Best Feature Films".

Plot

Poorna Malavath (Aditi Inamdar) belongs to a Telugu speaking, tribal family in Pakala, Nizamabad district in the

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

. Her parents (mother Lakshmi and father Devidas) are farm labourers. She joins the State Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society for her education. Her talent is spotted by the honest secretary of the Society, Dr. R.S. Praveen Kumar (

). The chief minister

N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy (born 13 September 1959) is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh between 25 November 2010 and 1 March 2014. He was the last Chief Minister of the United Andhra Pradesh before the ...

(

Harsha Vardhan Harsha Vardhan is an Indian actor, comedian and screenwriter known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also worked in a few Tamil and Hindi language films, in addition to television. He is known for his performance in Telugu ...

) authorises her to go for Operation Everest along with a

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

mountaineer, Sandhanapalli Anand Kumar (Manoj Kumar). In preparation for climbing

headed by Coach Shekhar Babu (Gyanendra Tripathi) and Colonel Khan (

Arif Zakaria Arif Zakaria (born 11 November 1966) is an Indian actor. He has had roles in many films, beginning with his debut film ''Darmiyaan'' (1997), ''1947 Earth'' (1998), ''Dance like a man'' (2004), and biographical projects '' Mardana'' and the contr ...

), she treks to th mountains of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

and

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

. On 25 May 2014, Poorna scales the highest peak of

and, aged 13 years and 11 months, becomes the youngest girl in the world to have reached the summit of Everest.

Cast

Production

was initially not associated with the film until he was offered the role of Dr. Kumar. He liked the script and offered to direct and produce ''Poorna'', raising funds in four months. Aditi Inamdar was chosen to play the titular role from a group of 109 girls. The film was shot in Pakala village over an 11-day period. Pakala is the village that the real-life Poorna grew up in.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''Poorna'' was composed by

Salim–Sulaiman Salim–Sulaiman is an Indian score composer duo consisting of siblings Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant. The duo compose music predominantly for Hindi films. Life and early career Salim–Sulaiman's ancestral town is Mundra, Kutch, Gujar ...

while the lyrics were written by

Amitabh Bhattacharya Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. He shot to fame with the film ''Dev.D'' with the song "Emotional Atyachar" turning an instant hit. He sang this song under the ...

Reception

Critical reception

''Poorna'' received a positive response from the critics based on the reviews. Neil Soans of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' appreciated the film saying, "Returning to a directorial capacity after 16 years, Rahul Bose recognizes the beauty in simplicity and uses it to the film's advantage. Grounded performances combined with stirring music elevate this relatively straightforward tale, making it essential viewing not only for the young Indian woman, but for anyone looking to scale great heights against all odds." and gave it a rating of 4 stars out of 5. Sarit Ray of ''

The Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' praised the film saying, "Poorna shows you that incredible stories can be told simply. Bollywood can learn from that." and gave the film a rating of 4 stars out of 5. Shubhra Gupta of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' lauded the movie by saying, "Fairytales do come true and the story of Poorna Malavath is the proof. Her biopic, directed by Rahul bose, does justice to the extraordinary story of a 13-year-old tribal girl climbing Mt Everest." and gave the film a rating of stars out of 5. Saibal Chatterjee of ''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

'' said that, "Poorna is a rare Hindi film that travels to the heart of rural landscape. Even rarer is the use of a smattering of Telugu in the dialogues, which, along with an effective musical score, augments the authenticity of the film's setting and soundscape. It also draws enormous strength from the deeply affecting performances by newcomer Aditi Inamdar (in the role of the resolute Poorna) and Bose himself (as 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)." and gave the film a rating of 3 stars out of 5.

Accolades

References

{{reflist 2010s adventure drama films 2017 biographical drama films 2017 directorial debut films 2017 drama films 2017 films 2017 multilingual films 2017 thriller films Disaster films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films about death Films about Mount Everest Films about social issues in India Films about women in India Films based on non-fiction books Films scored by Salim–Sulaiman Films set in Andhra Pradesh Films set in Nepal Films shot in Nepal Films shot in Telangana Hindi-language films based on actual events Indian adventure drama films Indian biographical drama films Indian disaster films Indian films based on actual events Indian multilingual films Indian survival films Indian thriller films Thriller films based on actual events