The White Tiger (2021) Movie Review I Ramin Bahrani I Priyanka Chopra I Rajkumar Rao I Adarsh Gaurav

Many films have been produced
on the themes of rags to riches in the past.
In several stories, the protagonist is
an honest hardworking individual
like Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
While in a few,
the hero deals in illegal activities
like Al Pacino in Scarface.
In ‘The White Tiger’, the main character
starts as a simple man
working at a sweet shop,
then a driver to an affluent family
and later did some heinous crimes
to become a rich taxi stand owner.
Hello everyone, my name is Varun
and today we are going to discuss a new film released
The White Tiger
The White Tiger starts like any international feature
showcasing India as an extremely
poor backward country
with traditional cultures and customs.
The first 20 minutes are interesting
but the narrative about how
Indians discriminate based on religion and caste
looked forced,
as the story is more about
the differentiation of rich and the poor.
Apart from that,
the film creates enough interest
to make you glued to the screen.
In this part, you will also start appreciating
how well the lead,
Adarsh Gaurav is acting in his

first major role.
So, The White Tiger is the story of Balram Halwai,
a poor driver of Ashok and Pinky,
a married couple who have
just returned from America.
Ashok’s father is a wealthy orthodox businessman
and does not treat Balram fine,
however, he is well treated by Ashok
and especially Pinky.
Balram is also satisfied with his job,
but wants to be lavish and dapper like Ashok.
Gradually, some differences
start appearing between the master and the servant.
And Balram in fear of being replaced,
starts making evil plans
which will be helping him in his future.
The film is directed by Ramin Bahrani,
whose previous movies have been
nominated for the Cannes film festival
and Primetime Emmys
and he did well with ‘The White Tiger’ too.
The atmosphere created by him is wonderful
and the film looks authentic with the real-life locations
and costumes of the actors.
The production value of the film is so high
that even the shots of really remote areas
do not anytime look like
the scenes of a low budget web series.
Also, the depiction of how the master
and the servant need each other
even being despised by each other
was done smartly
and looked engaging too.
With one of the characters being a driver
to a wealthy family
and the theme of rich and poor,
brings a few shades of Bong-Joon Ho,
2019’s Parasite.
Although, The White Tiger is a completely different film
from the Oscar winner Parasite.
The first half is fascinating
yet the picture seems to be
a little dragged during the second half
Though the film is based on the best-selling novel
of the same name by Aravind Adiga,
but the screenplay could
have been stronger and captivating.
In the second half, you might feel exhausted
with the built-up of something
big which was supposed to happen.
And after that incident,
how the film suddenly wraps itself up,
looks a little weird as well.
Acting-wise, the film does not disappoint.
Adarsh Gaurav as Balram in
the lead role was extremely good.
He has appeared in movies like 2017’s Mom
But ‘The White Tiger’ is his first major role
and he looked well-immersed in it
He was able to enact each emotion perfectly.
Also, the innocence of the character, whenever required,
was depicted fine too.
He stole every scene,
even the ones where he shared screen space
with actors like Rajkumar Rao
and Priyanka Chopra.
Though both of them didn’t have
much to do in the film
yet they did well in their small roles.
Priyanka Chopra is a very fine actress
and here she again proved her brilliance.
Rajkumar Rao was able to leave an impact
in this limited screen time too.
Mahesh Manjrekar and Vijay Maurya
did justice to their roles as well.
There are also many comparisons are being drawn between
‘The White Tiger’ and 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire,
as both international films deal with poverty in India.
Somehow ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
looks like a better film between the two.
How the entire journey of Jamal from
his childhood to a working individual
gets connected with his appearance on KBC,
make the screenplay of Slumdog Millionaire
interesting and engaging.
However, the performances from The White Tiger
are better than Slumdog Millionaire.
Apart from these two pictures,
there is another film with the same backdrop
showcased in India
is 2016’s Lion.
I would consider Lion
as the best international feature
showcasing the struggles of an Indian
who rises from poverty
to the upper rich strata of the society.
Now, regarding ‘The White Tiger’,
I would definitely recommend it,
at least for a one time watch
and there are chances
that you will most likely like the film.
If the pace of the film may seem slow to you,
then the wonderful cinematography
and extraordinary performances
will keep you engaged throughout the film.

%d bloggers like this: