The White Tiger

Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra, Vedant Sinha, Kamlesh Gill
Directed: Ramin Bahrani
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An ambitious man (Adarsh Gourav) takes a job as a driver for a powerful Indian family and works to raise his station in life.

Review:

The White Tiger is a solid Netflix movie. I've been wanting to read the novel by Aravind Adiga, but I got to the movie first. I'd bet the book is really good, because the foundation of the story was impressive. The film features a strong cast. It did feel like director Ramin Bahrani can't quite fully leverage all these strong pieces, though. There's aspects of the movie that are outstanding, yet the 2 hour, 5 minute film ultimately weighs too heavily on viewers. It loses focus during its soggy middle and can't quite recover at the end. That translated into a good, but flawed movie.

The story of Balram is an intriguing one. He comes from a nondescript rural Indian family, but he's driven by an insatiable desire to make something of his life, to rise out of poverty and achieve notoriety, but any means necessary. That might sound like Balram is cold and calculating, but he's more often portrayed as subservient, naive, kind. It's a weird dichotomy of his character and I loved seeing these various elements of his personality emerge throughout the film. His journey and transformation is a stunning one and it's the key driver of the entire movie. He changes in subtle ways as the film progresses and it's only at the end when you truly realize how far he's come. This is one of the film's biggest strengths. The issue is that Bahrani seems to get lost along the way. The story isn't as tight and focused as it needed to be, and it therefore loses some effectiveness.

Now, it did help that Adarsh Gourav gave a star-making performance as Balram. I have trouble verbalizing how incredible his performance was. It felt totally authentic every step of the way. This is a testament to his acting prowess because we see many different sides to Balram. He is able to bring genuine emotion to these different elements so it always feels like we're watching a complex, evolving human being. There's moments where I just loved his character, moments when my heart broke for him, moments when I was fed up and disturbed by him. Gourav attacks it all with this wide-eyed energy that's unlike any performance we usually see. Gourav is the single biggest reason to see this movie.

The supporting cast is good, too. I really enjoyed Rajkummar Rao here. He plays an important role, but brings this quiet intensity, this subtly to the performance that is remarkable. You feel this undeniable connection to his character- he's the kind of person you think you want to like you. However, he's not a hero and Rao brings forth his flaws and complexities as well. Rao was fantastic in this role. I also enjoyed seeing Priyanka Chopra here. I've been a fan of her since her Quantico days and while I don't know if her acting always lives up to her fame, she's still effective and enjoyable. This felt like a slightly different role for her and she's believable in the role. She certainly adds to the movie.

There's so much to like about this movie, yet I struggled with the movie, too. I was a big fan of it in the early stages, as we get to know Balram. It did feel like I needed to brace myself for what felt like a slow boil film. I was willing to do it, however. The movie progresses well and then at a certain point in the middle, it all feels repetitive. It seems like Bahrani has made the points he wants to make. We understand something about the different class levels in India. We realize the inherent unfairness of it and what it requires to improve one's lot in life. We get Balram's ambition and we understand the family for whom he works. We get the indignities he suffers to do his job. And yet, it just keeps going and going. It loses any momentum it might have had. I started losing interest in Balram's story. Eventually, a few big events happen, but the movie certainly telegraphs these so the story is surprisingly devoid of surprises. You get where the movie tells you it's going and it's fine, but it's never as compelling or intense as it needed to be. By the end of the movie, I felt a little impressed and also a sense of relief that the film was over.

Look, I liked The White Tiger and would recommend it in specific situations. It's not an especially easy movie to sit through, it certainly requires some dedication and stamina. Perhaps the best outcome of seeing the film is it renewed interest in me reading the book. The story is good and while Bahrani can't quite capitalize on it, I bet the book is significantly better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Parasite, Crazy Rich Asians, Slumdog Millionaire