OVP: The White Tiger (2021)

Film: The White Tiger (2021)

Stars: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mahesh Manjrekar

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Adapted Screenplay)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

One of only two films we have remaining for the 2020-21 OVP (I have The Man Who Sold His Skin still to see), The White Tiger was one of just a few movies that managed to sneak in at the last second of 2021 to get a nomination (it's one of the only films that was released in 2021 to get a nomination).  Based on the novel by Aravind Adiga, the movie is not entirely what it appears, and I was intrigued by all of the critics who kept pointing this out before I saw it, with everyone kind of stating the film had upended their expectations (some for the good, others for the bad).  I love a movie that takes a peak into the sordid nature of wealth (and the damaging affects the have-and-have-not's in society have on us as a whole), but like many of those critics, I was not prepared for the truly wild turn the film takes in its final chapter.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is focused on Balram Halwai (Gourav), a young man who is given the opportunity to become the driver for a wealthy family, principally their son Ashok (Rao).  This is a big step up for Balram, who lives with his poor family & has to send most of his money back home even as he's working his way up.  Balram envies the wealth that Ashok has with his wife Pinky (Chopra Jonas), who is not of the same status as Ashok & is far more progressive than Ashok's parents.  Balram's life, though, starts to fall apart when he lets Pinky drive his car, and in the process she runs over a beggar.  The family convinces Balram to sign a document stating that he ran over the beggar rather than Pinky, and after that he notices them trying to replace him.  Rather than just be cast into the dirt again, though, Balram defies his traditions & kills Ashok while he is preparing to bribe a public official, and uses the money to start his own business.  The film ends in a dark mode, with Balram acknowledging that in doing this that his entire family was likely killed as retribution, but that he doesn't care because he was the once-in-a-generation "white tiger" who rose above poverty to change his fate.

The movie takes place largely through flashback, which is an unfortunate scenario as it takes away a lot of the drama of the film.  We know that Balram is alive, that he's successful, and that he's no longer involved with this family.  I've talked about this before, but narration is less a double-edged sword, and more a pitfall that most films can't get out of.  Without that suspense, the film is more reliant upon shock value thrills than a genuine sense of "how will this turn out?"...you're an idiot if you don't realize that at some point either Ashok or Pinky (or both) are going to die because how else did Balram get this money?  

This takes away from an otherwise decent film.  The plot is intriguing, and quite shocking.  The amount of power that money buys you in every society on Earth, but particularly in a country like India (where the wealth differential is so gaping that it's basically like you're looking at two different countries), is extraordinary, and you see the mob mentality of Ashok's family, something he leans into the second his "woke" demeanor doesn't benefit him directly.  Gourav is excellent in the lead part-it's the kind of role that's hard to play, a man who has a sociopath living underneath him (but one he has to attempt to hide in earlier scenes, even though we know it's there).  The script gets into a gonzo series of tonal shifts in the final third, which is probably where it won its nomination, but it's the least successful aspect-I was honestly more impressed with the acting & the daring direction than I was the actual script itself, which feels like an unsuccessful adaptation that luckily had strong enough source material that it can skirt through the translation to the big screen.