Movie Review - The White Tiger

Director: Ramin Bahrani
Genre: Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 125 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyank Chopra Jonas

Description: An ambitious Indian driver (Adarsh Gourav) uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise to the top. An epic journey based on the New York Times bestseller.  

Review: Balram has one goal in mind: to become an entrepreneur and shake off the Indian caste system. When he starts working for a wealthy family, he seizes his chances.
Netflix is eager to show that it plays along in the world of the big movie studios. Not in terms of output, which is of course enormous. Quality and diversity: that is what the streaming service is aiming for more and more. “The White Tiger” is a good movie. This is by no means the first Netflix film to come from India. The list of series and films intended for Indian audiences grows and grows.
We see beautiful shots of 21^st century India and many contrasts between rich and poor. The film simply explains how the caste system divides the Indian population into groups and how difficult it is to escape from the situation you are in.
This is where Balram wants to change things. He is full of ambition and does not want to end up like his father: poor and sickly. Adarsh Gourav, who plays Balram, is fantastic as the boy who wants to escape at all costs. As a kind of anti-hero, he is very good at playing on your moral principles: do you understand his far-reaching actions because he wants to get out of his situation? Balram steals the show without much effort. You sympathize with him tremendously and at the same time doubt his choices.
Immediately, the story is reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”, in which a young Indian man escapes his poverty by entering a game show. But “The White Tiger” is more than this. How director Ramin Bahrani balnces the story between rich and poor, right and wrong is very well done. Halfway through, the film takes a dark turn that is hard to see coming.
It's not a light film or an easy watch. It’s also not a film you will rewatch often. It’s too good for that. “The White Tiger” is much more than a counterpart to “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Rating: 4 / 5