The White Tiger (2021)

[chocolatine]

This is one of the rare times when I liked the movie more than the novel on which it's based, even though the novel has won the Booker Prize. Adarsh Gourav managed to turn Balram into a sympathetic character - his smile just lights up the screen - whereas in the book he always seemed cold and borderline sociopathic even before he killed Ashok. Priyanka Chopra's performance was mediocre, but she's the the most famous actor of the cast (outside of India, at least), and also an executive producer, so I guess Netflix needed someone like her on board to get Americans to watch the movie.

The movie's also been nominated for an Oscar in the best adapted screenplay category.

[Brn2bwild]

On 3/20/2021 at 10:37 PM, chocolatine said:

This is one of the rare times when I liked the movie more than the novel on which it's based, even though the novel has won the Booker Prize. Adarsh Gourav managed to turn Balram into a sympathetic character - his smile just lights up the screen - whereas in the book he always seemed cold and borderline sociopathic even before he killed Ashok. Priyanka Chopra's performance was mediocre, but she's the the most famous actor of the cast (outside of India, at least), and also an executive producer, so I guess Netflix needed someone like her on board to get Americans to watch the movie.

The movie's also been nominated for an Oscar in the best adapted screenplay category.

I just saw this movie.  It was compelling and heartbreaking in equal measure.  Even though Balram won in the end, it somehow didn't feel like a victory to me.  Yes he no longer had to carry his whole family on a driver's salary, but he was engaging in some of the same sleazy practices as the people who once employed him.  The talk he had with his employees about murdering your employer made me wonder if he hadn't inadvertently planted a seed in their minds.

Also, was the article about a family of 17 murdered supposed to be about his family?