Review: The White Tiger

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Ramin Bahrani's films are often centered around those who are down on their luck - "99 Homes" and "At Any Price" - or outsiders with economic challenges - "Goodbye Solo." In some cases, his films are about both concepts - such as his early pictures "Man Push Cart" and "Chop Shop." The one thing that most of these films had in common was that one could relate to and feel sympathy for his lead characters.

In his latest film, "The White Tiger," which is based on an excellent, award-winning novel of the same name by Aravind Adiga, the lead character, Balram (Adarsh Goulrav), is certainly down on his luck, an outsider and a person of little consequence in the world that surrounds him. However, while Balram's story is compelling, it's often hard to sympathize with him - but this is no matter as many films about captivating characters, such as gangsters and other criminals, keep us compelled even if the characters leave much to be desired as humans.

"The White Tiger" also marks another change for Bahrani - while his previous pictures often have a low budget, handheld indie aesthetic, his latest is more stylistically flashy. While the film adheres to the concept that the movie is never quite as good as the book - although there are more than enough examples of the opposite - it's a compelling crime drama about an extremely poor man pulling himself up out of poverty, mostly through cunning, but occasionally via cold blooded behavior.

Bahram hails from the slums of India, but he recognizes the respect that an aging man who is part gangster, part benefactor to his town gets. Bahram ingratiates himself to the man's more forward thinking son, Ashok (Rajkummar Rao), while attempting to avoid the other thuggish son, The Mongoose (Vijay Maurya), and lands a job as Ashok's driver.

Both Ashok and his wife, Pinky Madam (Priyanka Chopra), take to Bahram, occasionally allowing him to take liberties with them that he wouldn't dare attempt with others outside his caste. But Ashok - especially as the film goes on - eventually finds that he has no problem berating Bahram, even after the servant nearly takes the rap for a horrific accident that Pinky somewhat inadvertently causes. 

The film is narrated by Bahram and includes stylistic touches that might seem at home in a Scorsese film. All that's missing is the record scratch and the voice over noting, "You might wonder how I got here..." Bahrani's film is a swiftly paced rags-to-almost-riches saga about an underdog who learns to swindle by observation and ends up clawing his way to the top - but, as usual, at a stiff price. The narration and framing device is Bahram writing a letter to former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, who is in the process of making a visit to India in the earlier 2000s.

While Adiga's novel felt fresh and exciting, Bahrani's picture occasionally sticks a little too closely to the cliches of its particular genres - one might describe "The White Tiger" as a blend between a Scorsese crime film and a story of a street kid attempting to escape poverty a la "Slumdog Millionaire" or "Salaam Bombay!" That being said, it's a fast paced and compelling film, even if the earthier style of "Chop Shop" and Bahrani's earlier works was slightly missed.

As Bahram becomes corrupted by the lure of money and we see Ashok's true nature come out when his marriage hits the rocks, I was reminded of the scripture regarding a camel going through the eye of a needle being easier than a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven. "The White Tiger" is another story that reminds one to be careful what one wishes for. As a film, there's not a whole lot going on that we haven't seen before - both stylistically and dramatically - but Bahrani's movie is an engaging, well made movie about money's corrupting influence.