The White Tiger

As I was viewing the current film “The White Tiger”, it was certainly a revelation seeing India’s caste system. The origins of this system began in ancient India, and basically ranges from the top, consisting of priests and academics, to the bottom, consisting of untouchables who do menial tasks such as street sweeping. The film is based on the 2008 novel of the same name, and after years of attempts has finally been presented as a film. The film is the story of a man named Balram (Adarsh Gourav), who was brought up in a rustic setting, and even though he was showing great potential and is called a “white tiger” (a person with once is a generation potential), had to leave school to work in a tea shop. The story is told by the adult Balram, and we see flashbacks to his harsh childhood, and how as an adult he eventually escaped his poor village by becoming a personal driver for a man named Ashok (Rajkummar Rao), son of a wealthy family headed by a man called The Stork (Mahesh Manjrekar), who is the demanding landlord of the village where Balram grew up. Ashok has just returned to his native India with his New York raised wife Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), and the two are very kind to Balram. While the duo treat Balram with respect and become close to him, they still see him as the bottom class servant he is. As time passes, Balram becomes more uncomfortable with his new life, as he and the other drivers are forced to live in the dingy, dank basement of a luxury highrise. The drivers spend most of their time in the basement until they are called by their “masters” to take them somewhere. Balram believes his class of people are trapped in a state of permanent servitude, like chickens in a rooster coop, and are kept there by the upper class, who do everything in their power to keep them there. While Balram is driving the couple home one night from a birthday party for Pinky, he is forced to let Pinky drive even though she is intoxicated. The result is a horrible accident involving an innocent pestideran, and The Stork forces Balram to take the blame. When Ashok refuses to speak up for his servant, both Balram and Pinky lose all faith in him. Pinky is so upset, she packs her bags and heads back to New York, leaving Ashok an emotional wreck with only the disappointed Balram left for him to lean on for support. As Ashok continues on a downward spiral, Balram takes advantage of the situation and begins to use Ashok’s car as a taxi to make extra money. Balram also discovers some very unpleasant discoveries about his master, while dealing with his upset grandmother who is all but forcing him to return to the village for an arranged marriage if he does not send money back to his family. Meanwhile one of Balram’s young nephews arrives to learn how to be a driver for the wealthy. The aforementioned actions lead to a breakdown for Balram, resulting in an action that ruined the character for me. While Balram was always striving to escape his “rooster coop”, I was very disappointed in his action, which resulted in tragedy for his entire family. Maybe we were not meant to feel empathy for Balram, even though I did until the latter part of the film. To me, even though he escaped his dire life circumstances, he becomes a villian. My personal take on the character aside, all the actors in the film are marvelous, and Gourav, in his first leading role, will surely have more film roles following his gritty performance. Overall, “The White Tiger” is a fascinating inside look at the caste system in India, but left me wanting a better ending for the lead character. Now showing in select theaters and on Netflix. (Rated R)