If you’re looking for inspiration for a completely absorbing, moving and excellent made movie to sink your teeth into this weekend, look no further than new Netflix film The White Tiger, the screen adaptation of the 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name by Indian author Aravind Adiga.
Set in the first decade of the new century, The White Tiger revolves around Balram Halwai (an excellent Adarsh Gourav), and his story of rising from a poor rural villager in the north of the country to a hugely successful entrepreneur in the growing cosmopolitan Bangalore in the south, a place nicknamed the new Silicon Valley following the arrival of huge new tech firms and web upstarts. The film is narrated by Balram through written letters to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, taking us back to his childhood where is suddenly forced to leave education and work for the family business, a small tea shop in his village after his father sadly passes away.
Balram baulks at the way his life is seemingly being laid out for him; plodding along in his home village, handing over rental cash to rich out-of-towners, and then ultimately marrying through arrangement by through his grandmother, trapping him forever in the only place he knows. Wanting more from like, Balram decides that he will become a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao), the youngest son of his landlords, and the new husband to Pinky (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas) who have just returned from New York. He travels to the family home to negotiate a new role for the family after hastily learning to drive, and does so when Ashok takes a shine to the determined young man.
The film charts the journey to a pivotal, a massively tragic moment, which we witness in the film’s opening moments, and how it changes Balram’s view on his new masters, and what they stand for.
Impressively acted, particularly Gourav as Balram, The White Tiger involves from the off. Bahrani takes the material – of which I wasn’t familiar with – and stages a hugely impressive two hours of drama, all brilliantly balanced with dark humour throughout.
The film transported me back to my own travels through Rajasthan – which would have been around the same time in which this story is set, and the filmmakers capture these beautiful vistas of India through stunning cinematography, and the essence of the taste and smells of the food, the unique culture and completely unbelievable divide of class and wealth that it still is home to.
We follow Balram as he becomes more and more involved with his new ‘family’, liked as their new servant but not indispensable to them, which becomes more and more apparent as this story moves on, the young man still very much caught in the ‘rooster coup’ that is desperate to escape.
As I said, there is an excellent performance from Gourav, but both Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas put in superb turns as the couple controlling Balram’s life, the former brilliantly landing a difficult role as the man with very split loyalties, both to his family, his wife, and ultimately his loyal servant.
Bahrani brilliant adapts the material, painting a picture of a land struggling with the system, and one man’s story of a way out. His film very much tells the story of Balram’s rise through said system, rather than concentrating on what follows. Already a hefty two and bit hours long, I was willing to be taken further, but as it stands – and I know it is very early doors – The White Tiger is one of the best films of the year so far. Compelling, truly shocking and very uncomfortable to watch in places, but a very memorable piece of work that will absolutely affect every viewer.
The White Tiger is released on Netflix on 22nd January.
The White Tiger
Summary
An excellently staged adaptation of the source material, full of great performances, especially from its lead in Adarsh Gourav who clearly has an exciting future ahead of him.
