Film review
An entertaining film on the caste system in India with a breakthrough performance.
Based on Aravind Adiga’s awarded book of the same name, The White Tiger directed by Ramin Bahrani shows the repressed and segregated world of servants in India through the eyes of Balram, a low-caste villager who becomes the driver of a wealthy family.
A successful entrepreneur
Successful entrepreneur Balram (Adarsh Gourav) writes an email to the president of China and in this email, he recounts his incredible life-story and reveals what it took him to achieve his current freedom. Deprived of studying, the clever Balram must work and serve others throughout his upbringing in the village he was born. One day, he convinces his grandmother to let him leave to become the driver of the village landlord’s son Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) who has returned from the United States of America with his NY-raised wife Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas).
Duality in the film
From the start, the film highlights two aspects of the story. One aspect is the tone of the film, which is a drama with highlights of comedy, and a cinematography (Paolo Carnera) enriched by neon lights, hip Indian music and a narration directed not towards the viewer directly, but towards former China’s Premier Wen Jiabao. This mix of different sensory styles with an emphasis on face close-ups that reveal the tension or hilariousness of Balram’s situations, make it an engaging and entertaining film.
The second aspect of the story is its ferocious polarisation. It’s a class, caste, and moral polarisation. From how wealthy people treat villagers such as Balram in an oppressive and discriminative way, to the way humans treat each other as less based on their social and caste-status. Extending on this dichotomy, the characters’ polarisation moves towards a classic the USA vs India mentality on certain issues, such as the caste system that still prevails in India, and women’s voices and the less fortunate.
One can see the latter the most through Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s character, as she struggles with how people treat Balram. In this story, Pinky and Ashok might appear as liberated persons, but the film does not leave any air for a grey-world, as they also treat Balram in a manner that is convenient for them. Because this is Balram’s story, there is no space for honest folks in a grey-world. Balram’s vision is a polarised white or black one, where he only sees two possibilities to escape his fixed fate: politics or crime.
Adarsh Gourav’s breakthrough performance
Even in the casting, there is this dichotomy of less-known actors and renowned actors. It’s a beautiful conjunction that reaffirms the polarity of the film’s story. Adarsh Gourav is a fairly unknown name that shares the repertoire with popular names such as Chopra Jonas and Rao. Gourav’s versatility in the character’s development is noteworthy, as with a single glare he transforms a timid but astute Balram to a self-confident and ruthless person. His entire performance is exceptional. In every stage of Balram’s life, Gourav changes his gestures and behaviour, creating a real and empathetic character.
Dividing the character development of Balram and the moment he realises how he can escape his predetermined destiny into different stages makes it more believable and give depth to the protagonist. A conversation with Pinky about what Balram wants to do with his life acts as a catalyst for Balram’s chain of downward (or upwards) reactions — depending on what one defines as a successful entrepreneur in this context. Accordingly, Balram makes his way towards a bipolar path where there is win or lose, up or down, but no in-between.
Conclusion: Getting out of the downward spiral
Of course, one has to remember that this film is not a literal representation of the servants’ life in India, but it’s the view of Balram. The story starts with his voice and ends with his opinion too. The brutal polarisation that the film depicts (through its casting, lighting, narrative style, acting, violence, and mise-en-scene) is exactly how Balram sees the world in which there are only two possibilities to climb the ladder. In this world, Balram is the great exception and unique animal; the white tiger that can defeat the fixed dichotomy and move freely through the city jungle.
Spoiler alert + opinion
Why did Pinky give Balram the amount of money that is not quite 3 months of his salary?
This is also part of the duality of Balram’s world, in which there is no good person, but only criminals and corrupted politicians. Pinky gave him that amount of money out of remorse and because it’s what (probably) she had available at that moment. She wouldn’t go out of her way to get money from an ATM to give to Balram, she had that cash and gave it to him. I think that’s the way it went because if she was as the way she thought of herself, being righteous and a good person, she would have said or done something to prevent Balram of signing the fake-confession. As Pinky is desperate not to go back to her ‘low social class life,’ she also chooses the non-good person side; creating her own fate.
