The White Tiger

Balram Halwai, from a poor village, becomes driver to a wealthy family. He expects loyalty to be repaid, and then, after an accident, he sees that the family can dispose of him and is trying to make him sign as the guilty party. He decides the only way out of the system is by the system's own rules. He is reborn afterwards as an entrepreneur in Bangalore. He tells the story himself. Ramin Bahrani directed and wrote the screenplay from Aravind Adiga's 2008 novel; he had read drafts of the book before it was published. Adarsh Gourav plays Balram, with Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao in the cast. It was shot in Delhi between October and December 2019, produced by Lava Media, ARRAY and Purple Pebble Pictures. It premiered on 6 January 2021, opened in limited US release on 13 January and went to Netflix on 22 January. Netflix said 27 million households watched in the first month and that it made the top ten in 64 countries. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 91 percent. It was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and Gourav received a BAFTA nomination. Who it is for: viewers who like class anger told from inside and unreliable narrators. Who it is not for: anyone needing a sympathetic hero. Balram defends what he does and the film does not judge him.