Rahul Bose Makes His Directorial Debut With ‘POORNA’ (2017) Based On A True Story

Rahul Bose is one of my favorite actors, while also being one of the most underrated Bollywood actors ever. So when he makes his directorial debut, of course I'm going to be there.

And for his directorial debut, Bose chose the real life story of the youngest woman to ever climb Mount Everest, named Malavath Poorna, simply entitled 'Poorna'. The first trailer of the film shows an inspiring, if not cliche'd story of overcoming modest beginnings to accomplish something great.

'Poorna' is the story of how girls can truly do anything, backed up with real life events.

The real life story of the world's youngest girl to climb the fierce Mount Everest is the basis of 'Poorna'. The movie stars young Aditi Inamdar as the titular Poorna who comes from humble beginnings, stumbles upon the sport of Rock Climbing, and ends up being one of the best and brightest to climb and becomes immortalized for one impossible deed.

The young actress, Inamdar was able to win the casting call over many other girls, and her inexperience as an actress further seems to enhance her performance of a real person in the Trailer.

While ending up directing the film after becoming involved in it as an actor, Rahul Bose's vision of the movie skirts the line of cliche and innovative as the premise and concept of the movie itself is very unique. There has been no other Bollywood movie that deals with the sport. But then again the inspirational dialogues are almost unbearably cliche.

'Poorna' also comes across as a very low budget movie in comparison to the rest of the industry. The special effects in scenes of the actual scaling of Everest are not as great as a big budget film would be. However, I'm hoping that the heart of the film comes more from the performances and story, than the special effects action pieces.

Not all the technical elements of 'Poorna' however cause concern though. Bose does employ a first person perspective for some of the mountain climbing sequences, and that does seem pretty innovative for a Bollywood movie.

The backing of 'Poorna' honestly does come from the acting history and background of Rahul Bose himself. Without Bose's attachment as director, the film probably wouldn't be on anyone's radar. However, the Trailer does paint a picture of an inspiring girl who does great things and becomes known for her accomplishments, which is a refreshing story to see play out in a Bollywood movie.

While it may not be a technically spectacular film, 'Poorna' does seem to live up to the norms and conventions of the usual inspirational true story motif, and does so effectively. While the film will not be that big a draw for casual audiences, and how wide the film is released remains to be seen as well, it could be a nice small story that warms the heart.

'Poorna' stars Aditi Inamdar and is co-starring and directed by Rahul Bose, releasing March 31st, 2017.