The White Tiger, a crime-tinged rags-to-riches parable, is director Ramin Bahrani’s response to Slumdog Millionaire The White Tiger is lively, is lively, but what renders it unconvincing is that the characters aren’t trapped by prescribed social roles so much as by the programmatic design of the narrative.
According to Balram, a wealthy young Bangalore businessman, “the Indian entrepreneur” must be a combination of opposites: “straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere.” He explains this in a letter to the Chinese prime minister that doubles as voice-over narration for The White Tiger, Ramin Bahrani’s restless new film, which is itself a blend of disparate elements. Adapted from Aravind Adiga’s Booker Prize-winning novel, the movie is part satire and part melodrama, a crime-tinged rags-to-riches parable that uses the story of Balram’s improbable rise to indict the iniquities of the society that created h
The White Tiger Review: Adarsh Gourav Is Brilliant. Yet, The Roar Of The Film Isn t Uniform
The White Tiger Review: Adarsh Gourav Is Brilliant. Yet, The Roar Of The Film Isn t Uniform
The White Tiger Review: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, in a supporting role, doesn t put a foot wrong. Rajkummar Rao s accent is too put-on to be effective.
The White Tiger Review: Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra, Rajkummar Rao in a still (courtesy gouravadarsh)
Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra, Rajkummar Rao
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Rating: 3 stars (Out of 5)
Can one man s miraculous rags-to-riches story encapsulate the cumulative truth of India ? Balram Halwai, the protagonist of
languageEnglish with Hindi
The White Tiger opens on a shot of one of India s most famous Mahatma Gandhi sculptures and a giggly night-time joyride through what is popularly known as Lutyens Delhi. Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao s characters are in hysterics as she drives wildly through one of the most familiar parts of India s capital city. In the back seat is a man decked out in a turban and shiny clothes who she addresses as Maharaja . In quick succession the camera captures the giant Gandhi statue at the intersection of Mother Teresa Crescent and Sardar Patel Marg, a car hurtling down the wrong side of the road, a cow in the middle of the street and a poor family on a footpath.