The White Tiger might teach a dubious lesson but the fact that - even for a fraction of a second - you’d consider following in the lead's footsteps says a lot. For outsiders, it’s a compelling story (whose satyrical nature might fly over their heads). To someone living in India, it might be revolutionary.
Growing up in Laxmangarh, Balram Halwai (played by Adarsh Gourav) never finished school and watched his father die because their town did not have a doctor. As an adult, he aspires to be a chauffeur for the son of the town’s “landlord”. Being close to Ashok Shah (Rajkummar Rao) allows him to escape his village but as he becomes more worldly, he grows increasingly dissatisfied with his position.
I don’t know if the movie's poster is genius irony or false advertising. We see a smiling photo of Balram sitting down, wearing a cartoon crown while his masters Ashok and his wife, Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) place their hands on his shoulders. All that cyan and yellow makes this movie look cheery and uplifting. It isn’t.
We’re introduced to Balram’s world through a wraparound story of him writing a letter to Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (the story takes place in 2010). Balram compares the Indian underclass to roosters trapped in a chicken coop. They see other birds getting butchered but make no attempt to escape. It’s the perfect analogy because when Balram says he aspires to be a chauffeur… you assume it’s so he can worm his way into a higher circle. Actually, he’s trapped in a mindset of servitude. He never objects to the beatings and insults but slowly, you can see his blinders peel away. Now, he's ready to take advantage of someone else for a change and his persistent loyalty makes him unsuspecting. The question is whether he will realize how little everyone else cares about him early enough to escape from his cage.
Calling this “an extraordinary journey of a self-made man from a tea-shop worker in a village to a successful entrepreneur in a big city” isn’t an incorrect description, but it is misleading. You’d never guess from those words that Balram is kept in check with the knowledge that if he betrays the Shahs, Ashok’s father (Mahesh Manjrekar) will murder his entire family killed. There are a lot of shady characters in the film. Even those who are “good” make dubious choices. If former doormat Balram abuses them, you’re not going to shed any tears. It helps that Adarsh Gourav is very charismatic. I hope this is the first of many films we see him in.
Writer/director Ramin Bahrani offers the talented cast a great screenplay and they all do it justice. The film is stylish, tense, and thought-provoking. You might need to do a bit of research to overcome the cultural barrier but this is one of those movies where you won’t mind doing the extra homework. I think I’d like it even more a second time. (April 29, 2021)
