The White Tiger – Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra

Late last year, Time magazine (or was it Newsweek?) named ‘The White Tiger‘ as one of the best films of the year. We thought it had already released then, but it turned out the journalists got an early preview of the film and were impressed, especially with the film’s lead star!

Trailer: The White Tiger

‘The White Tiger’ released in January 2021 and though the film is about Indians and made in India, it is an American drama film directed by American Ramin Bahrani. The film is an adaption of Indian-Australian Aravind Adiga’s 2008 novel and credits Priyanka Chopra as one of the executive producer of the film. In her interviews, PC said she read the book many times when it first came out in 2008 and was excited to join the team.

What is The White Tiger about?

‘The White Tiger’ is narrated through the eyes and from the POV of the lead actor, Adarsh Gourav who plays Balram. He calls himself a servant and his master is Rajkummar Rao, who plays Ashok the youngest son of Mahesh Manjrekar aka The Stork in the film.

The Stork’s first son, who is called The Mangoose by Balram, is old-fashioned, in terms of treating the women of his house, and as strict and mean as The Stork. Priyanka is Pinky, the wife of Ashok, who has grown up in the USA and has a different POV than her husband and his family, especially on anything related to the servants’ treatment.

Balram’s family is introduced at the beginning of the film. Compared to other Indian films, Balram’s grandmother is the one who runs the household. She is controlling and makes the men and the boys in the family work and hand her the money. They are all scared of her and listen to her every word. Balram likes to go to school and from a very young age, he was able to read well and was smart. Upon the suggestion of a teacher or supervisor, Balram was supposed to leave his dark village and go to India’s capital Delhi to study. Before that could happen, his grandmother made him leave school and start working and soon after, his father passed away.

While Balram respects Pinky and Ashok, he strangely calls Ashok his ex at one point in the film and sometimes, looks at Pinky in a not-so-respectable way. Pinky behaves normal with him, as she behaves in the West, but Balram is not used to women getting close to him even if it is in a friendly way.

Long story short…

Balram has big dreams and wants to get out of the rooster coop (as he calls his situation)! He wants to get out of his situation and move forward in life. He doesn’t want to remain a servant all his life serving people who doesn’t deserve and appreciate him. The film goes through ups and downs building that moment where Balram realizes he doesn’t want to be a slave to his masters anymore.

The White Tiger Cast

Adarsh Gourav

‘The White Tiger’ introduces Adarsh Gourav as a lead actor and two famous Bollywood lead actors as supporting characters in the background. Adarsh Gourav, as a new face, plays Balram with conviction. He IS Balram. You feel his emotions as he tells the story of his rise from poverty to success. The kid who plays the young Balram is perfect too, he really builds his character and establishes himself as a different kid with dreams to get out of the hell-hole he has been living in.

Adarsh is amazing as the lead actor, he carries the whole film on his shoulders. Since he is new, he managed to make himself the face of Balram. It will be interesting to see the kinds of roles he does next.

Mahesh Manjrekar and Vijay Maurya

Mahesh Manjrekar and Vijay Maurya play their characters really well. They are mean and just like masters of slaves used to be. Whoever said slavery is dead?! You don’t see them putting in the effort to play these characters, they just are these characters! That’s the advantage of not hiring stars but actors for roles.

Rajkummar Rao

Rajkummar Rao has come a long way from ‘Citylights’, a heartbreaking film that we watched many times. The sad depiction of Balram’s life is a bit similar to RKR’s character in ‘Citylights’, as in they both wanted a better life for themselves and their families. To see RKR as the master is nice, as if he got justice for his sad life in ‘Citylights’. But these thoughts aside, his character could have been without the New York or U.S. accent.

In the film, he said he studied there so there was no need to have that strange accent. It was unnecessary. Just imagine, if he had gone to China to study and come back, would he have spoken English with a Chinese accent? At one point in the film, he tells Balram: “Get lost!”. It sounded as if he told him to “Get last!”. His character is very interesting in the film because he is just like these well-off people. At first, he tries to act nice and be human to the driver. Little by little, his true colors come out and he starts to treat the servant just like his brother and father. Then when pissed at his wife leaving him, he calls her a b!tch to Balram and calls Balram a piece of sh!t!

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka, playing a hardcore character role, blends in this film. Her accent and portrayal of a woman who is shocked at how different things are in India are on point. It is quite a portrayal since she herself is surrounded by servants so she knows very well what and how the higher-class treats their servants. She said she was interested in this adaptation because when she first read the book, she was shocked at how Indians can treat their domestic workers. PC is so good when she doesn’t have to try. Like this film, it’s not about her. She is not the lead character and she doesn’t have the pressure to look good and appear sexy. She is herself, as an actress, and this is what she is good at. Hopefully, producers will notice this and sign her on to do meaningful roles.

All in all

‘The White Tiger’ is interesting and not a waste of time. It has an interesting ending, which is different from anything done before about Indian poverty. This time, the guy was not afraid to take what he thought belonged to him. He wasn’t scared to do whatever he had to, to make a life for himself and to get out of this situation.

If you watched ‘Is Love Enough, Sir’, the ending of ‘The White Tiger’ is different and the complete opposite but somehow, both stories got the ending that their lead characters deserved.

Balram made it out of the hell-hole he was living in. He managed to create his own business but instead of treating his employees like his servants or slaves, he treats them like human beings with respect. He got what he wanted and didn’t become an a-hole at the end of it all, even though he did kill his master and slapped his own nephew or cousin.

‘The White Tiger’ is a must-watch if you are interested to see this side of India. Other than that, it’s a good story that deserves at least a watch. It would be interesting to see how the Indian upper-class audience reacts to this film. The ideas they will start to get and the nightmares that are going to happen after watching this film.

‘The White Tiger’ is out now on Netflix!

The White Tiger – Behind The Scenes