Rating : 4/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2021
Running time : 2 hours 5 minutes
Director : Ramin Bahrani
Cast : Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Manish Asharya, Kamlesh Gill, Mahesh Manjrekar, Swaroop Sampat
Kidwise : PG-13
The White Tiger is based on the Arvind Adiga’s book of the same name (here’s the book review), and while I was initially skeptical of a non-Indian director getting the so-very-Indian ethos of the book correctly translated into film, I have to admit Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani does a fabulous job.
The White Tiger in the film is Balram Halwai, who in his own words has been bred to be a servant, brought up to please his masters. His master is the youngest son of the village landlord, and Balram, living in the city serving America-returned Ashok and his Indian-American wife Pinky, is very pleased with his good fortune. Through a series of events, Balram will come to re-think this “good fortune” and find himself helpless and hopeless.
The White Tiger is a story of India’s classist society, where the rich are very, very rich and the poor are very, very poor, and there is a wide, almost insurmountable chasm in-between. Balram belongs to the latter class, a servant, used to being routinely trod upon, berated, insulted and dismissed by his employers. Ashok and Pinky belong to the former class, and are full of egalitarian values, thus gentler, kinder souls; Balram privately muses that Ashok could be “The Lamb” where Ashok’s evil father is “The Stork” and his wily brother “The Mongoose”.
Bahrain’s portrayal of each of these characters has depth, and he manages to show us how goodness erodes when push comes to shove. We see Ashok and Pinky treat Balram with kindness, but then also toy with him for his lack of knowledge (Balram does not have much schooling). To them, he is and is not quite a full human being. Balram sees Ashok as his ticket to a prosperous future, and is by turns innocent and cunning, desperation and desperate poverty being the main driver for his actions.
Adarsh Gourav steals the show as Balram. His metamorphosis from naive and faithful servant to a cunning, streetsmart player is beautifully done. Rajkummar Rao as Ashok is very believable; he even gets the returned-from-America accent right. Priyanka plays Pinky Madam with panache (she also produces the film). The entire cast of the film does very well. The only jarring note came from Kamlesh Gill, who while she did well, sounds like an elderly, Punjabi Aunty from Delhi with her accent, instead of a wily, grandmother from a small village.
The White Tiger is an engrossing, well-made film. A must watch.
Kidwise: Some graphic violence.
