Netflix’s “The White Tiger” is director Ramin Bahrani’s adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s award-winning novel. Is this another Oscar contender that will need to be added to the streaming giant’s neverending list of fall titles? Maybe, maybe not. The subject matter is pertinently relevant, tackling the poor and disenfranchised of India.
The film’s official 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.”
Bahrani, who acts as both director and screenwriter for ‘Tiger,’ was a uber-independent filmmaker in the early aughts, much-praised by the late great film critic Roger Ebert. His films, shot on shoestring budgets, were quite good, including “Man Push Cart,” “Goodbye Solo” and “99 Homes.” Then he graduated to the major studios in 2018 and totally bombed with the HBO adaptation “Fahrenheit 451.”
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ken Kamins, Paul Ritchie, Prem Akkaraju, Ava DuVernay, and Sarah Bremner are executive producers on “The White Tiger.” The Netflix film also stars Chopra Jonas, Adarsh Gourav and Rajkummar Rao. Get your first look at the trailer below.
Netflix and Skydance Animation have also called it quits. The two sides announced Monday that they're ending the animated film deal struck back in 2023, framing it as a mutual decision.