The White Tiger (2021)
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A man from a poor Indian village uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise through the ranks of the wealthy.
The story
The story follows Balram, a man from a poor Indian village who is identified as a "white tiger"—someone born only once in a century. After being forced to work in a tea stall due to his family's debts, he eventually finds employment as a chauffeur for the wealthy Stork family. While working for them, Balram navigates the complexities of servitude and the stark divide between the Indian underclass and the wealthy elite. He eventually moves to Delhi with his employers, where he must navigate a world of political corruption and personal ambition while attempting to secure a better life for himself and his family.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2010, Balram Halwai tells his life story to a Chinese premier, describing the Indian underclass as trapped in a 'chicken coop.' As a boy, he was a 'white tiger' but was forced into labor when his father died of tuberculosis. He eventually becomes a chauffeur for Ashok Shah and his wife Pinky. After a tragic accident in Delhi involving a child, Balram realizes his disposability to his masters. He begins to defraud Ashok while secretly building his own wealth. After a series of setbacks and a realization of his situation, Balram murders Ashok with a broken whiskey bottle and flees to Bangalore. There, he uses his stolen wealth to establish a successful taxi company, eventually changing his name to Ashok Sharma and successfully escaping his former life of servitude.
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 125
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; Hindi
- Directors
- Ramin Bahrani
- Writers
- Ramin Bahrani · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Adarsh Gourav · Balram Halwai / "Ashok Sharma"; Rajkummar Rao · Ashok Shah, Balram's master; Priyanka Chopra · Pinky Shah, Ashok's wife; Mahesh Manjrekar · The Stork, Ashok's father; Vijay Maurya · Mukesh "The Mongoose" Shah, Ashok's older brother; Kamlesh Gill · Granny Kusum, Balram's grandmother; Swaroop Sampat · the Great Socialist; Tawhid Rike Zaman · Balram's friend; Vedant Sinha · Dharam, Balram's nephew; Nalneesh Neel · Vitiligo Man
- Genres
- black comedy; drama
- Themes
- class struggle; servitude; corruption; ambition
- Tone and mood
- dark; satirical; compelling
- Setting
- India (specifically villages, Delhi, and Bangalore) in the early 21st century.
- Premise and plot tags
- rags-to-riches; period piece; social commentary
- Source material / true-story basis
- Aravind Adiga's 2008 novel The White Tiger
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics who praised its direction, screenplay, cinematography and the performances by the cast.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 91% · scale: percentage · review count: 164; Metacritic · score: 76 · scale: 100 · review count: 39
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Awards · Best Adapted Screenplay · 93rd · nominated
- Production trivia
- The film was shot extensively in Delhi.; The lead actor was chosen specifically because he was from India and was relatively unknown.; The film was released on Netflix and reached 27 million households in its first month.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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