A 28-minute documentary shot on one of India's least-climbed big peaks is getting festival attention, and it puts a remote corner of Himachal Pradesh in the spotlight. Reo: The Dangerous Peak, the debut film by 20-year-old Hyderabad student Shourya Sreekere, follows Telangana mountaineer Yashwanth Naik's attempt on Reo Purgyil, a 6,816-metre summit in the Kinnaur region near the Tibetan border.
The drama is real, not staged. During the August 2025 expedition, Yashwanth and his guides — Rency Thomas, Yogi Raj and Raina — were pinned down for six days by bad weather, with avalanche risk and the peak's reputation for unpredictable conditions leaving them with nothing to do but wait. Yashwanth, who has already climbed Kilimanjaro and Elbrus, doesn't come across as untouchable: the film sits with his fear and doubt as much as his resolve.
Reo Purgyil is a serious proposition. Few teams have attempted it since an Indo-Tibetan Border Police squad reportedly made the first ascent in 1971, and mountaineers rank it among India's toughest summits because of its remoteness, avalanche-prone slopes and volatile weather. That scarcity is part of what drew the young director, who wanted to document the sacrifice and uncertainty behind high-altitude climbing rather than just a summit triumph.
The production story is nearly as striking as the climb. Shourya had to pull out of the expedition for health reasons, so cinematographer Akshat Jain went in his place, single-handedly managing cameras, a drone and batteries at altitude. The rest of the crew — editor Chandan Sai Madineni and composer Sudha Srinivas P — are also in their twenties.
The film has been selected for the competition section at the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival 2026 and the non-competitive section of the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala 2026, and it premiered publicly in Tirupati earlier this year. Shourya, a mass communication student at St. Joseph's Degree College in Hyderabad, cites Poorna, Meru and 14 Peaks as reference points and is already eyeing a feature film.
For travellers, the appeal is twofold. If you love mountain stories, the film is a rare window into what climbing in Kinnaur actually involves. And if you're planning a Himalayan trip, it puts Reo Purgyil and the surrounding Kinnaur valley — a far quieter alternative to Manali or Spiti — on the map. Base-camp treks toward the peak pass through villages, monasteries and pine forests that see very few visitors. Even if summiting is off the table, the region rewards anyone drawn to high, empty terrain with real expedition flavour.
