The White Tiger

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 19, 2021 and ABC Central Victoria on March 29, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★★

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mahesh Manjrekar, Vijay Maurya, Kamlesh Gill, Swaroop Sampat, Vedant Sinha, Nalneesh Neel.

No one was aware that one does not simply drive to Mordor.

There's a sly dig at Slumdog Millionaire in this gritty Indian drama that perfectly sums up the key difference between these two rags-to-riches films. In Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning gem, it is fantastical luck courtesy of a miraculous TV program that eventually allows its "slumdog" hero to escape his horrible life in India's underclass.

But in The White Tiger, our low-caste protagonist has to use cunning, ruthlessness and flexible ethics to drag himself up from the bottom. "Don't think for a second there's a million-rupee game show you can win to get out," he narrates at one point. He knows that to escape the slums of India, you can't wait for a fairy godmother, unless your plan is to rob them.

This world-weary hero is Balram (Gourav), born into poverty and destined to stay there. But after watching his father work himself to death, he decides to escape his fate, wrangling a job as a driver for a wealthy family. From the front seat of their air-conditioned cars, he witnesses the corruption of India and comes to the realisation that corruption is the only way to truly escape from the underclass.

Much like Slumdog Millionaire, The White Tiger is based on an award-winning book that examines the poverty and inequality entrenched in Indian life. Faithfully adapted by writer-director Ramin Bahrani from Australian-Indian writer Aravind Adiga's wonderful Man Booker Prize-winning novel, it's a fascinating story starring a hero that struggles to stay on the right side of likeable, but who is all the more compelling for it.

Bahrani's direction captures the dirt and the glitz of its seesawing story with equal fidelity. There's a crackling energy in places and a quiet menace elsewhere as we follow Balram through his seemingly impossible mission to break his own coding - the idea, reinforced every day by his society, that he was meant for nothing more than servitude.

In Gourav, Bahrani found a perfect Balram. It's a multi-faceted performance that ranges from gurning humour and facile subjugation to brooding rage and emotional complexity. It's a career-making role, and Gourav is flawless.

The key supports of Rao and Chopra Jonas are also impressive, particularly the latter, who brings great steel and passion to her role as Pinky, the driven woman who has as little tolerance for India's caste system and outdated social mores as Balram. 

The White Tiger is a little slow and repetitive in places, but this is a minor quibble. For the most part, it's a ferocious takedown of India's shadowy secrets, seemingly aimed at Westerners, but with a tone and sensibility that feels honest. Bahrani has outdone himself with the adaptation (a worthy Oscar nom) and the direction, and Gourav is a revelation.