Asif Seraj

MOVIE REVIEW ~ The White Tiger (Netflix) Based on the book by the same name written by Aravind Adiga, this movie is about the rise of an ambitious man from the pits of poverty to becoming a successful entrepreneur albeit with a twist. This movie starts from a small village in Bihar where the main protagonist Adarsh Gourav is born to a poor man who toils day and night to make ends meet. Adarsh named Balram Halwai in the movie is a bright kid who successfully reads proper English sentences in a village school where government schools are known for its sub-standard education. The school inspection officer is impressed by Balram and offers him scholarship in a city school. But things take a turn for the worse for Balram as his father is debt ridden and Balram has to toil in someone’s shop breaking coal with hammer to pay off his father’s dues. Balram doesn’t get to see the face of school after this day. Things get even worse with his father dying of tuberculosis soon and the task of running the family falls on him and his elder brother. The journey of bondage starts for Balram henceforth. He starts working in a shop doing odd jobs but always had a passion for making it big in life. He sees his opportunity in the younger son of Mahesh Manjrekar acted by Rajkumar Rao(RR) who has just returned from USA. Mahesh Manjrekar and his elder son are coal mafia dons who are also into “hafta vasuli” from poor villagers. Balram overhears that the family requires another driver and borrows Rs.300 from his grand-mom to learn driving and finally lands as the personal driver of RR. Things change drastically for Balram after he takes up this job. I won’t go into the plot of the movie any further and would leave the rest of the content to be viewed by the audience. I had very little to no expectation from the movie when I watched the trailer of the movie back in January of this year. But I was blown away by the plot of the movie when I watched it last night. One big reason for the movie to be this good is because it is based on a novel. Books/novels give you great script to work upon. The narrative style is similar to the movie The Life of Pi which too was based on a novel. There is a constant voiceover narrating what’s going on in the protagonist’s head similar to The Life of Pi. Priyanka Chopra has a small but substantial role in the movie. The acting of the rest of the cast is great including Rajkumar Rao but the protagonist played by Adarsh Gourav is exceptional. It’s a movie of Rich verses the Poor. How the rich manipulate and subvert the poor and how one odd person who refuses to accept the protocol rises up and fights for his ambition. The thing to appreciate about this movie apart from acting is its cinematography. You get a very hard hitting reality of India where people on the roadside slums and people inside air-conditioned cars are juxtaposed. The movie is very raw in its treatment of poor people and situations. I was surprised by the human psychology shown in the movie especially of the protagonist. He goes through a lot and grows through it too. I would highly recommend this movie to everyone who hasn’t watched it yet.