Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The White Tiger

Play trailer 2:20 Poster for The White Tiger R Released Jan 13, 2021 2h 6m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
92% Tomatometer 179 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his epic and darkly humorous rise from poor villager to successful entrepreneur in modern India. Cunning and ambitious, our young hero jockeys his way into becoming a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas), who have just returned from America. Society has trained Balram to be one thing -- a servant -- so he makes himself indispensable to his rich masters. But after a night of betrayal, he realizes the corrupt lengths they will go to trap him and save themselves. On the verge of losing everything, Balram rebels against a rigged and unequal system to rise up and become a new kind of master. Based on the New York Times bestseller and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel.
Watch on Netflix Stream Now

Where to Watch

The White Tiger

The White Tiger

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Well-acted and beautifully made, The White Tiger distills the strengths of its source material into a grimly compelling drama.

Read Critics Reviews

Audience Says

His character's choices can be difficult to digest, but Adarsh Gourav is great in this smart, socially conscious satire, which realistically blurs the lines between good and evil.

Read Audience Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (179) Critics Reviews
Linda Marric NME (New Musical Express) Frustratingly naive one minute and coldly calculating the next, Gourav manages to make Balram likeable for the duration of the film. If you're looking for a Friday night movie to while away a few lockdown hours - The White Tiger is the perfect choice. Rated: 3/5 Jun 17, 2021 Full Review Wenlei Ma News.com.au Any hope or salvation The White Tiger offers is laced with a drop of arsenic, and there are certainly no Bollywood dance numbers to lift your spirits. Rated: 4/5 Feb 28, 2021 Full Review Karthik Purushothaman The New Republic Through [a] climactic nod to Naipaul's merciless depiction of underdeveloped India, no matter how many fortunate individuals might escape it, Bahrani's The White Tiger subverts the standard-issue poverty porno... Feb 6, 2021 Full Review Francesca Steele iNews.co.uk The White Tiger holds up a brilliant magnifying glass to the flaws of a capitalist democracy where there are only two choices: to serve and be stagnant – or seize power and ascend. Rated: 5/5 Dec 10, 2024 Full Review Sukanya Verma Rediff.com The White Tiger makes a stinging commentary on New India's half-baked vision, but Ramin Bahrani isn't telling a Slumdog fairy tale here. Rated: 3.5/5 Oct 2, 2024 Full Review Daryl MacDonald InSession Film The White Tiger is excellent. Hilarious, edgy, modern, and stylish, it leans into its more superficial aspects to great effect, even if it sacrifices some of its more salient points along the way. Rated: B+ Apr 26, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (248) audience reviews
Audience Member cool but meh i liked it Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/02/24 Full Review Angad S The beginning of the movie suggests it to be entrepreneurial rise of balram but in the end we realise its actually a criminal movie. I was expecting a rise from poverty by hardwork and finance hustle but movie just gave a cliche criminal rise to a poor person just he doesnt get caught. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/31/24 Full Review Jaime Andrés B The film gives us an interesting portrait of Indian society. Poverty, servitude, corruption, family; are some of the concepts that are shown throughout the movie, which may help us to understand a little bit about how Indian society is and give us a perspective on it. However, I think it is important to keep in mind that this is just one point of view of reality, and even though we can take a look at some of the Indian traditions and ways of thinking, it is impossible to represent all the culture in just one film. On the other hand, in my opinion, the rhythm of the movie declines after the first half and the ending becomes overly predictable. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/07/24 Full Review Audience Member This movie is a perfect representation of the society in which we live right now, it transcends cultures and countries, taking into account some global themes, just as the ambition, morality and pursuit of power the humans always have had. The film is centered in the Indian society, and shows us the big inequality, the injustices and the corruption that the “World Biggest Democracy” faces, it tells us everything through a man who wanted to change his world, but just as him there are a lot of people who are trapped in this system of inequality. The way these actors play their roles is fascinating and very well done, they were able to express every feeling and show us how every person from the most poor to the richest will act in that corrupted society. It May be a little bit long but i would definitely recommend you to watch this movie :3 Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/07/24 Full Review Manuela L The film gives us a cruel and intense way to see the Indian society, it lets us see the big social inequality, corruption and injustices through the story of a man who wants to change his destiny because of his social position. One of the positive things about the film is the easy way with which it give us to understand the difficulties of Indian society and the tension between social classes. With Balram, we get a real insight of the struggles and challenges faced by the characters as they struggle to have a better life in a country with too much inequality and injustice. Another very good aspect of the film is that it shows really real landscapes of India, from street markets to rural landscapes, which ones helps the person who is watching the film to understand more about the Indian reality. The movie is about very difficult and deep issues, and the main character has an individual improvement, it does not leave a learning or a significant change. Also the film is very difficult to watch because of the mistreatment, violence and suffering that it is seen. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/05/24 Full Review MARINELLA M In my point of view, although the end is "happy", is a sad movie. Sad because we know that is a reality. The movie show us how is unfair the life and one way to face it. That are good actors, and the message is clear, but the movie is too long . Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/05/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The White Tiger

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

The White Tiger

The White Tiger: Movie Clip - Cheating The White Tiger: Movie Clip - Cheating 1:14 View more videos
The Hand of God 83% 76% The Hand of God Watchlist TRAILER for The Hand of God Strange Weather 58% 54% Strange Weather Watchlist TRAILER for Strange Weather Hillbilly Elegy 24% 81% Hillbilly Elegy Watchlist TRAILER for Hillbilly Elegy Marriage Story 95% 85% Marriage Story Watchlist TRAILER for Marriage Story All Day and a Night 53% 59% All Day and a Night Watchlist TRAILER for All Day and a Night Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his epic and darkly humorous rise from poor villager to successful entrepreneur in modern India. Cunning and ambitious, our young hero jockeys his way into becoming a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas), who have just returned from America. Society has trained Balram to be one thing -- a servant -- so he makes himself indispensable to his rich masters. But after a night of betrayal, he realizes the corrupt lengths they will go to trap him and save themselves. On the verge of losing everything, Balram rebels against a rigged and unequal system to rise up and become a new kind of master. Based on the New York Times bestseller and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel.
Director
Ramin Bahrani
Producer
Ramin Bahrani, Mukul Deora
Screenwriter
Ramin Bahrani
Production Co
Noruz Films (I), Lava Media, Netflix, ARRAY Filmworks, Purple Pebble Pictures
Rating
R (Violence|Sexual Material|Language)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Hindi
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 13, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 22, 2021
Runtime
2h 6m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
Most Popular at Home Now