Getting ahead in life is pretty tough no matter where you're from.
But if you're unlucky enough to be born in poverty, it can be downright impossible.
At least, not without going to some pretty extreme measures.
That's the basic problem faced by Balram, the protagonist of The White Tiger, the new
film based on the 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name.
Dark, funny, and more than a little prescient, The White Tiger reveals just what it takes
to find success when the system's been rigged against you before you were even born.
"Here in India, there are only two types of people.
Those with big bellies, and those with small bellies."
Here's what you need to know before you watch The White Tiger.
In 2008, the Indo-Australian author Aravind Adiga saw the publication of his first novel,
The White Tiger.
That same year, it won the Booker Prize for fiction, one of the most significant prizes
awarded for fiction published in the English language.
That's a remarkable achievement for any book, but it's an especially auspicious start for
a writer's debut novel.
The White Tiger tells the story of Balram Halwai, who was born into a lower social class.
He has big dreams about rising up out of the darkness that surrounds him and into the light
of success and legitimacy.
He's called a "white tiger" - a symbol for power in India and Asia in general - because
of his early signs of ambition and intelligence.
Of course, it takes a lot more than those qualities to move up in the world... unless
you're willing to do whatever it takes and sacrifice everything to get what you want.
Adiga's tale is one that mixes tragedy with comedy in order to make a broader point.
Readers all over the world identified with the book's message, and the novel earned a
spot on the New York Times bestseller list.
Now that the book has been adapted to film, there's little question that The White Tiger
will reach a whole new level of recognition and resonance.
Indian actor and musician Adarsh Gourav stars in the lead role as Balram.
Gourav transitioned from commercial work early in his career to star in television and movies,
like the comedy series Die Trying, the 2017 film Rukh, and the 2019 series Leila.
Rajkummar Rao, meanwhile, also has about a decade of credits to his name and has been
appearing in Indian television and movies regularly.
His role as Balram's wealthy and morally dubious boss, Ashok, results in the kind of performance
that will probably ensure that Rao is a constant presence in high-profile projects for years
to come.
Rounding out the three leads is Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
With a career going back nearly 20 years, Chopra Jonas broke out in a major way when
she was cast as the lead in the drama series Quantico in 2015.
Roles in major motion pictures like Baywatch and Isn't It Romantic followed soon after.
In The White Tiger, Chopra Jonas plays Pinky, Ashok's wife, who plays a major role in Balram's
transformation.
"What is it that you want to do?"
"I want to serve you and Ashok."
"No, you can't possibly believe that."
In addition to starring in The White Tiger, Prianka Chopra Jonas is also an executive
producer on the film.
But the driving force behind this adaptation is filmmaker Ramin Bahrani, who directed the
movie based on his adapted screenplay.
A North Carolina native, Bahrani has been making films that have earned rave reviews
for years, starting with 2005's Man Push Cart.
Meanwhile, his third film, 2008's Goodbye Solo, was a critical smash, and inspired legendary
movie critic Roger Ebert to call him "the new great American director" in 2009.
By 2018, Bahrani teamed up with Michael B. Jordan to adapt Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic
Fahrenheit 451.
As it happens, Bahrani was more or less destined to helm the adaptation of The White Tiger,
as he was actually a pretty major part of it getting written in the first place: Bahrani
attended Columbia University with The White Tiger author Aravind Adiga.
Bahrani explained his connection to the book to Deadline in October, 2020:
"When I made my first film, Man Push Cart, [Aravind] was a journalist and it gave him
the push to go back to India and get his first novel done.
He sent me rough drafts of The White Tiger and I thought, he is such a great writer of
characters and such a great thinker.
He is dealing with heavy issues, but he made it so funny and entertaining [...] I waited
15 years to make this movie."
Thanks for watching.
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