The White Tiger (2021)

The White Tiger (2021)

 

7/10

Starring

Adarsh Gourav

Priyanka Chopra-Jonas

Rajkummar Rao

 

Directed by Ramin Bahrani

 

The movie is based on a novel by Aravind Adiga. The screenplay and direction are by Ramin Bahrani, who did a great job in adapting this book. The movie never lets you think that Balram (played by Adarsh Gourav, the man the tale is about) is pure. The dark drama shows how desperate people can be to escape poverty and the repercussions of treating your servants poorly.

The movie has a wonderful setting, set in 2010. Even though I have never been to India, the movie sells the whole drama with its setting. The movie’s mind-blowing punches of comedy and unexpected situations will keep you glued and never bored. The best way to view this movie is as a more realistic version of Slumdog Millionaire, and still just as good.

The plot starts with Balram in his company; he’s wealthy from what we see, and there’s a Chinese investor coming to town. Balram decides to send an email to the man, hoping to get his attention. The email details how he rose to the heights he’s at now. We can guess he must have skipped some of the darker things he did in this email.

Balram was one of the few children who could read in his class, but he couldn’t do much with that because he lost his father to tuberculosis and was forced to do all sorts of menial jobs to get by and care for his family. No matter how much they worked, the poverty they were born into never lifted. In fact, it seemed things were getting worse as the young boy with potential we saw in the beginning of the film is now a man who cleans floors and is dressed in rags.

Balram decided to change his life, and to do that, he had to serve someone who already had it made. The tyrant and wealthy man in his town has a son who just flew back to India with his wife. Balram went to learn how to drive and particularly threw himself at the family to serve. They took advantage of his willingness, and Balram got a better chance in life. His boss was now the son, Ashok. Ashok and his wife treated Balram with a little more dignity than the others in the house. Soon, Balram was coerced into standing for a crime he was innocent of. Even though he wasn’t charged in the end by the police, he realized that he would never be better than a servant to these people. So he changed. He started to lie, steal, cheat, and do everything possible to leave servanthood and become his own boss someday.

The movie is worth your time. It’s fun to watch and easy to enjoy.