This tale of poverty set in noughties India is an engaging yet often difficult watch, writes Miriam Blakemore-Hoy...
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra
Running time: 128 minutes
Once every one hundred years, it is said, a white tiger is born - a unique creature that defies all expectation. In India, in the early noughties, Balram knows that he is fighting against a system where the odds will always be stacked against him and to find his freedom, he will have to be a white tiger too. From his days at school, where he is the only one who can read, to the harsh realities of having to give up a scholarship in order to work in a tea shop so that his family can survive, his choices are few and far between. Watching poverty crush his father and his older brother, Balram knows he will have to force his way out in whatever way he can.
Based on the compelling 2008 Booker prize-winning novel by Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger is one of the better book-to-film adaptations that I’ve seen. Despite the crutch of an overly detailed narration, the film goes deep into the darkness of the India that Balram is subjected to, with a sensitive and sometimes claustrophobic cinematography. Played by relatively unknown actor, Adarsh Gourav, Balram is by turns wonderfully naive, then incredibly canny, as he deals with his own family and village life, and then his master’s family - the means by which he makes his way to success.
In a corrupt society, is battling to move from darkness to light going to cost too much?
His master Ashok (Rajkummar Rao), is the grown up son of the village landlord, whose family terrorise the village and keep everyone pinned in their place. Balram sees the opportunity and carefully orchestrates his way into becoming Ashok’s driver, getting out from under the grip of his family and away from his home. But living the life of a servant is a different kind of bondage. Watching Balram ingratiate himself into this role is heartbreaking. But hearing his knowing and cynical narration, whilst watching him behave in an apparently innocent way is chilling too.
The treatment that he receives is also hard to watch. Whilst the father and the older son treat Balram as little better than a slave, Ashok the US educated younger son is somehow worse. He and his new wife Pinky (Priyanka Chopra) believe that as they have “westernised”, they have become more enlightened and can behave towards Balram in a fairer and more equal way. By treating Balram as more of a friend, the hypocrisy becomes more obvious, and when their selfish behaviour leads to compromising Balram’s safety and reputation, the thinly-veiled fury he feels is matched by my emotions. Balram talks about India being in two halves, the light side and the dark. Is he a creature that has been made through circumstances, or through sheer will? And in a corrupt society, is battling to move from darkness to light going to cost too much?
Did you know? Director Ramin Bahrani urged audiences to think of how the pandemic has increased the impact of poverty whilst they watch the film, saying: “With Covid, the inequality was right there. Visible. Inescapable. And Balram is inequality personified. He’s the delivery person bringing your meal, your Uber driver, the healthcare worker who couldn’t afford healthcare themselves.”
The White Tiger is available now on Netflix
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