Ramin Bahrani, the Iranian-American filmmaker, started out small, with the simple story of a pushcart vendor, a Pakistani immigrant selling coffee and doughnuts in New York, in 2005鈥檚 鈥淢an Push Cart.鈥� In the years since, his films have steadily grown in scale and melodrama, but they鈥檝e stayed resolutely within the gap separating rich and poor.
Bahrani鈥檚 last film, 2014鈥檚 鈥�99 Homes鈥� 鈥� a movie dedicated to Roger Ebert, who championed Bahrani鈥檚 early work 鈥� plunged into the heart of the Great Recession in a damning economic parable of foreclosure in Florida, with a titanic performance by Michael Shannon as a predatory real-estate broker. Bahrani鈥檚 latest, the India-set 鈥淭he White Tiger,鈥� is a step higher, still, in scope and
鈥淭he White Tiger,鈥� which debuts Friday on Netflix, is the kind of widescreen epic of class struggle about an ambitious, cunning climber that has long been a rich domain of movies. Bahrani may have begun as a neorealist but 鈥淭he White Tiger鈥� finds him reaching for the operatic heights of 鈥淕oodfellas.鈥�
He doesn鈥檛 get there. But 鈥淭he White Tiger,鈥� about a loyal chauffer to a corrupt landlord in India, is an engrossing tale of servant and master that makes a dynamic portrait of the world鈥檚 largest democracy, and the caste system that divides it.
The film faithfully and affectionately adapts Aravind Adiga鈥檚 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel, a book that 鈥� since Bahrani and Adiga are longtime friends 鈥� was dedicated to Bahrani. We first meet Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav), as he sits in regal costume, in the back of a car speeding through Delhi in 2007 on a joyride cut short when a child walks into the road. It's a misleading opening; Balram is the driver, and we'll later learn it's his boss, Ashok (Rajkummar Rao), behind the wheel and Ashok's wife, Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) in the front seat.
Bahrani will return to this moment but not before a lengthy flashback that runs at least half of the film. Balram comes from the poor village of Laxmangarh, where his prospects are dim. With an ingratiating smile and some pandering, he convinces a wealthy landlord known as the Stork (Mahesh Manjrekar) to take him on as a driver. Balram narrates along the way, sharing his strategy for advancement while selling his story as reflecting a much-needed rebellion for India's millions of poor. They are psychologically locked in a rooster coop, he says, too timid to rebel despite knowing their fate.
鈥淒on鈥檛 believe for a second there鈥檚 a million-rupee game show you can win to get out of it," says Balram.
It's a pointed jab at the best picture-winning 鈥淪lumdog Millionaire,鈥� a movie that 鈥� like 鈥淭he White Tiger" 鈥� cast a bright spotlight on India's underclass, but one that offered a more fantastical vision of escape. 鈥淭he White Tiger,鈥� it could be argued, isn't so different as an against-the-odds success story. If 鈥淪lumdog鈥� gave us the musical version of uprising in India, 鈥淭he White Tiger鈥� instead filters modern India through a crime drama like 鈥淪carface."
But 鈥淭he White Tiger鈥� more rigorously examines and subverts Hollywood (and Bollywood) stereotypes of Indian life. Balram, a self-made hero, capable of ruthlessness and selfishness, is a more complicated protagonist, worthy of empathy and scorn. In 鈥淭he White Tiger,鈥� he represents India's future.
鈥淭he Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, all at the same time," he says.
Watching Gourav pull off such a balancing act is the best reason to see 鈥淭he White Tiger.鈥� An actor and singer, Gourav's charisma animates a film that otherwise can sag with heavy-handedness. Bahrani isn't a director with a light touch, but, then again, he's drawn to subjects that deserve bluntness.
Bahrani, with Paolo Carnera's vivid cinematography, builds a dense, incisive film that nevertheless feels uneven in structure. The movie is so invested in the mentality of the slave-master relationship between Balram and Ashok, the landlord's hipster son, that it overwhelms. Almost as soon as Balram, through bloodshed and Machiavellian guile, achieves independence, 鈥淭he White Tiger鈥� is wrapping up. Maybe it's too American a thing to say, but it skips over the best part.
鈥淭he White Tiger,鈥� a Netflix release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language, violence and sexual material. Running time: 125 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
