The White Tiger (2021)

Directed by: Ramin Bahrani | 125 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Adarsh ​​Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Vedant Sinha, Kamlesh Gill, Sandeep Singh, Tilak Raj, Satish Kumar, Harshit Mahawar, Mahesh Pillai

The British Booker Prize is one of the more reliable literary awards. Novels by big names such as Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, John Coetzee and Margaret Atwood have already won the prize. Quite a few winners have since been made into films (‘Disgrace’, ‘The Life of Pi’, ‘The Remains of the Day’, ‘The English Patient’) or made into TV series (‘Wolf Hall’). The film adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s 2009 Booker Prize winner ‘The White Tiger’ raises expectations.

‘The White Tiger’ tells the story of young Balram. Coming from a poor family from a poor village, Balram’s future seems to be bleak. Certainly as long as the Indian caste system is not dead and buried yet. Balram, however, refuses to accept his position. With talent and deceit, he wriggles his way into a wealthy and shadowy New Delhi family. He becomes a driver for Ashok and Pinky, the open-minded son and daughter-in-law of the criminal head of the family. Despite that promotion, our hero can’t seem to rise above the level of a sweep. And then everything spirals out of control.

The book ‘The White Tiger’ offers a credible look at Indian society, but it is based on the English literary tradition. At the same time ironic, slightly distant and painfully realistic. The same goes for the filming. ‘The White Tiger’ has a lot of humor, partly because of the voice over, which describes the abuses in Indian society and politics in a dry way. Stories about a corrupt politician called the Great Socialist and about the millions of gods who don’t really help the population.

That humor is badly needed, because when it comes to abuses, the film is grim and cynical. The stifling hierarchical structures force every character, including Balram, to go unscrupulously for their own interests. As a viewer you want to feel sympathy for him, but still. The only character who elicits a bit of sympathy (Pinky) is typically the first to give up the fight.

The images of India are always good, Adarsh ​​Gourav (Balram) and Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Pinky) portray believable characters, the film has a nice pace, and just when you get tired of the voice over, he keeps his mouth shut. For example, ‘The White Tiger’ is a film that is as dark as it is entertaining about a country that we will never fully understand.