Peak performance

(Rahul Bose). He is the big driving force in young Malavath’s life, and here the film exhibits its one flaw. It turns Kumar into a flawless, omnipresent messiah.

He swoops in and turns Poorna’s school around with incredible ease: a quick threat to fire the corrupt seems to solve most problems. Then he begins to focus on ‘extracurricular activities’, and it’s like champions are born overnight.

But amid his fondness for Malavath, and her show of promise as a climber during a school trip, her incredible journey begins.

Poorna isn’t just a story of human ambition. It is also a story of the friendship of Poorna and Priya – with its joys, grief and inspiration. It is their dreams that fuel her, as she runs in Darjeeling, trains non-stop, goes from tiny village to might mountain.

This subplot lends the story its heart, and makes it relatable.

Bose’s strength as a director lies in keeping it real. For once, the bare, dusty village feels like a bare, dusty village; the smatterings of Telugu aren’t always translated.

His shots of the actual Everest climb are often tight close-ups, giving you an almost first-hand sense of the disorientation and struggle; this makes up for whatever may have been lacking in CGI budgets.

It would have been easy to turn this into a hyper-celebratory saga, or a cynical takedown of rural governance. But Bose handles poverty, neglect, and high emotion with swiftness, and a total and delightful absence of melodrama.

Instead, he angles the story itself so that it shines a light on issues like rural neglect, poor schooling, and corruption, with moving effect.

Poorna shows you that incredible stories can be told simply. Bollywood can learn from that.

I