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MOVIE REVIEW THE WHITE TIGER
Wicked Local
You d swear Ramin Bahrami caught a screening of Slumdog Millionaire, took exception to its eight Oscar wins, and decided to craft an India-based rags-to-riches story of his own, albeit about 50 shades darker and far more realistic. That s The White Tiger at its most basic, but there s more meat on this cat s bones than a mere retort.
It s a profound, timely message sure to resonate far beyond its setting in early 21st-century India, the world s largest democracy. But there, like here, not everyone is created equal.
That s the gist of Bahrami s adaptation of Aravind Adiga s prize-winning novel about a pauper evolving into a prince via a combination of cunning and chutzpah. The book was released in 2008, the same year Danny Boyle s Slumdog Millionaire became a worldwide smash.
Stars: Priyanka Chopra, Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao
âThe White Tigerâ follows Balram, a poor driver who uses his wit and guile to free himself from servitude to his masters and make his way to the top.
According to our protagonist: âThe greatest thing to come out of [India]… is the Rooster Coop. The roosters in the coop smell the blood from above. They see the organs of their brothers…They know theyâre next. Yet they do not rebel. They do not try to get out of the coop. The very same thing is done with human beings in this country.â
Tejinder Singh Khamkha/AP
Rajkummar Rao, left, Priyanka Chopra and Adarsh Gourav in a scene from The White Tiger”. Images released by Netflix. Bahrani may have begun as a neorealist, but
The White Tiger finds him reaching for the operatic heights of
Goodfellas. He doesn’t get there. But
The White Tiger, about a loyal chauffeur to a corrupt landlord in India, is an engrossing tale of servant and master that makes a dynamic portrait of the world’s largest democracy, and the caste system that divides it. The film faithfully and affectionately adapts Aravind Adiga’s 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel, a book that – since Bahrani and Adiga are longtime friends – was dedicated to Bahrani.