The White Tiger (2021)
IMDb rating: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%
Based on the Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Aravind Adiga, the story of Balram’s journey from servitude to success is darkly humorous while addressing the devastating gap between the rich and poor in India and the legacy of the caste system.
Adarsh Gourav plays Balram, who narrates the story of how he managed to wangle the job of driver for a wealthy couple who had recently returned to India from the US, Ashok and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas). Balram’s whole life has been one of servitude, and so he goes to great lengths to please his masters-slash-employers, before realising that they would go to even greater lengths to keep him under their heel.
Balram decides to become a new kind of master by rebelling against the system that has kept him at the bottom of the heap for his entire life – no matter the consequences.
New York Post praises Gourav’s performance, saying, “The real find here is Gourav, who gives a pressure-cooker turn as Balram, a guy who can no longer smile and nod at his own oppression.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune calls the story “Dickensian”, saying, “It’s a corrosive satire that uses a Charles Dickens-type story to suggest that a revolt by the oppressed is not just likely. It’s inevitable.”
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