When local residents saw what was obviously a film shooting on, they were naturally interested and hung on for a while to get details of the cast and the sets. Initially, they could not identify most of those in the unit but a trickle of information flowed after some enquiries.
The quiet shooting was for a biopic on the life of fifteen-year-old Malavath Poorna, the youngest woman to climb Mount Everest, at the age of 13 years and 11 months. The location of the shooting was the historic Bhongir Fort, where Poorna learnt the basics of trekking.
Motivating othersActor-director Rahul Bose, popular in the Bollywood and Bengali film industry, is making the film under the Bose Productions banner. He was impressed by the young girl’s achievement and wanted to showcase her life on the big screen to inspire youth.
Titled Kuch Parbat Hilayein that roughly translates in English as ‘scaling the peaks’, the movie is being made in Bengali, English, Hindi and Telugu.
The director spoke to the Secretary of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, R.S. Praveen Kumar, and also met Poorna.
A seven-day shoot at Pakala village captured the childhood of the poor tribal girl, after which the unit moved to Bhongir on December 18. A major part of the movie, except for the climbing of the Everest shots, were made in Bhongir.
The young mountaineer’s life in a residential school and her training in trekking were captured too.
Child actorsAdithi, a 15-year-old, will play Poorna. Other actors essay the roles of Praveen Kumar, a trainer at the Bhongir Rock Climbing School and mountaineer, B. Shekhar Babu and Paramesh and her trekking companion on the Everest expedition, S. Anand Kumar. The students of the residential school and the rock climbing school were given supporting roles, much to their glee.
Poorna and Anand were in Bhongir to spend a day with the unit and cast.
Rahul Bose used drone cameras to film some shots. The crew later left to Darjeeling to film the remainder of movie.
