Here is a promising film that slid off a cliff. At the start, I had a good feel for the metaphor of The White Tiger, a rural Indian kid “born into the dark” like so many of his people, but this particular child possesses a superior mind and a willingness to fight his way out of his legacy of poverty. By the end of this film, however, I had no rooting interest and decided, perhaps, that maybe the poor kid should have stayed a poor kid. In turn, this makes me feel like my investment in time and energy has been wasted, not unlike going to a circus to see a White Tiger and finding the exhibit closed.
Talking from the POV of a memoir, Balram (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his own rags-to-riches rise as a letter to the Chinese Premiere coming to visit India. The Chinese Premiere is supposed to be impressed with Balram’s entrepreneurial moxie, but I’m an easier sell and he hasn’t convinced me. As an exposition device, this rare technique comes off as a personal sales pitch to China, which begs two questions: 1) Would you rather be in China? I never got that impression during the 125 minutes of film and 2) Why would China invest in you? This question is equally asinine.
It took only two years of formal schooling to get young Balram fluent in English; thus, his teacher dubbed him “The White Tiger,” the rarest of deadly beasts. The predictions that Balram was destined for Delhi were all just sacred cow manure when his dad dies of TB. No Delhi, no schooling, no more life. Here’s a hole-in-the-wall where you’ll work as a tea caddy for the next six decades until you die of a preventable disease.
Ah, but Balram is inspired when the son of the local don, Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) returns from America with his new bride, Pinky (Priyanka Chopra). And suddenly, Balram has his destiny: “Some day, I’m gonna tea caddy for that guy!”
India prides itself on being the world’s biggest democracy – yet such has not kept eternal poverty at bay, a fact
that is clearly not lost on the producers. The White Tiger is almost entirely a tale about those born “into the light” v. those born “into the dark.” And, of course, while plenty separates the groups in terms of money, education, and power, little separates the two morally, spiritually, or intellectually. And I think the point to this entire tale is that a forgotten expendable nobody from Backwash Cowpatty, India can –despite all evidence to the contrary- grow up to be just a big a piece of shit as the local warlord. Isn’t that great?
Now I’m so glad that this film is set in India, cuz you just know that somewhere in the dark web, “White Tiger” is the self-given nickname for some New-Nazi supremacist douche. And even if not a denizen of the dark web, “White Tiger” or some form thereof has to be the name for at least a dozen different gamers of European descent. I truly hope those alter-egos got their light/dark redemption on, because whatever I enjoyed about this film, I felt empty by the finish. The White Tiger should feel lucky to receive two stars and not less.
A scrapper from bottommost rung
Into a rich man’s world is flung
Congratulations, Balram
You’ve conquered the glam
And achieved the caste of cowdung
Rated R, 125 Minutes
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Writer: Ramin Bahrani
Genre: Sucks to be you … forever
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Underdogs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t believe that ends justify means
