The White Tiger

R

Released Jan 13, 2021

2h 6m

Drama

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92%

179 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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.

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Critics Consensus

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

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Audience Consensus

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.

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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

Whitney S

If you are looking for a movie to dream and look for a happy story with a correct process, I consider that this is not the movie for you. The white tiger shows a reality of what is lived in those countries, where if we do not pay attention we can take out and apply the wrong teachings or on the contrary take out a positive application that leads to personal or business growth. I like other types of movies, that's why I don't give it 5 stars. But it's a good movie, if it captured my attention.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/05/24

Full Review

jorge g

The movie talks about the one of the problems in india and uses a very cliche algorithm that hollywood and bollywood had been using for years like in the movie the boy who harnessed the wind they shoy us someone that was hope in the world that he is living in and then they make him realice how crooked up is the society that he lives in. Then he starts to search for a way of leaving that world or at least solve his problem , personally i think that its not bad even when its using a very cliche script because they represent the situation of millions of people in one movie and at the same time they made it so people could realice about what is happening without a big intervention of media

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/04/24

Full Review

Andrei D

Familiar ideas, Indian universe

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/04/23

Full Review

Fong Kok Hoong F

Ramin Bahrani's adaptation of Aravind Adiga's Booker Prize winner of the same name is a gritty portrait of modern-day India's poverty, caste system, corruption, servitude and half-baked democracy as narrated with biting humor and weary cynicism by the titular village-bred self-made opportunistic entrepreneur in a letter to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, chronicling his incredible breakout from the "rooster coop".

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/03/23

Full Review

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Ramin Bahrani

Director

Adarsh Gourav

Balram

Rajkummar Rao

Ashok

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Pinky Madam

Vedant Sinha

Dharam

Perrie Kapernaros

Actor

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The White Tiger: Movie Clip - Cheating

1:14

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The White Tiger: Trailer 1

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The White Tiger: Teaser Trailer

2:16

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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

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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

KT Mahe

For Your Reference Podcast

There is use of literal light and literal darkness but in the themes as well. A film that is able and provides commentary on the harsh realities of their country is an indicator of a compelling story.

Rated: 4.5/5

Apr 3, 2024

Full Review

Oti

For Your Reference Podcast

We get to see it uncovered in such a way where you feel sorry, angry and disillusioned by it all. So when things are happening to Balram because he wasn't born rich, you want him to win.

Rated: 4.5/5

Apr 3, 2024

Full Review

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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: Prem Akkaraju, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ava DuVernay, Ken Kamins
Screenwriter: Ramin Bahrani
Production Co: Noruz Films (I), Lava Media, Netflix, ARRAY Filmworks, Purple Pebble Pictures
Rating: R (Language|Violence|Sexual Material)
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)

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