Caro's choice: The White Tiger is not Bollywood -
20 Minutes
A driver scorned by his employers decides to revolt in the film "The White Tiger", available from Friday on Netflix.
Ramin Bahrani, the director of “99 Homes”, signs a film as dark as it is funny to describe his journey.
Far from the glitter of Bollywood, he reveals the reality of India in the 2000s.
What a great surprise that
Ramin Bahrani's
The White Tiger
, available on Netflix this Friday!
The tumultuous social rise of a chauffeur in India in 2008 draws its inspiration from a novel by Aravin Adiga, an author whom the director has known since his childhood.
“I didn't know India when I read the book,” says the director of
99 Homes
(2015) and
Fahrenheit 451
(2018) to
20 Minutes
.
What got me hooked on the story was that I could understand the hero and the process of moving him from devoted servant to pushy assassin.
This young man embodied by a talented stranger, Adarsh Gourav, follows a tortuous path before revolting against odious employers.
Resolutely political
“He might have remained a happy driver if he had been treated decently,” comments Ramin Bahrani.
But he rebels when his condition becomes unbearable and the affection he places in his masters is violated.
"
Forced to accuse himself of an accident for which he is not responsible, the hero ends up realizing that he can only escape his miserable condition by taking revenge on his employers.
“My film is resolutely political,” explains Ramin Bahrani.
If he fits into the reality of India in the early 2000s, I believe that what he says is universal.
"
A tiger as funny as it is fierce
Ramin Bahrani uses fierce humor to describe the social rise of a poor, discreet and ambitious boy.
While his character may act in more than questionable ways, he manages to make it connectable.
“That was the main difficulty with this project,” he explains.
Make endearing a boy who can behave in an unacceptable way and find the mixture of humor and ferocity of the novel.
One of
White Tiger's
greatest strengths is the changes in the tone of the film
.
In the right direction
Sometimes surprisingly candid, as when he discovers the happiness of brushing his teeth, or incredibly hard in the face of another driver whom he has fired, the hero must tack to survive.
"His ultimate success is built on shameful acts but the way he treats his own employees shows that things are moving in the right direction," insists Rami Bahrani.
His film takes the viewer to the guts to follow this atypical course far from the glitter of Bollywood.
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