Have you read The White Tiger and think the superficial accent in the film took away the authenticity of the plot? Well, hang in there.
Right at the beginning of the film, we see Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) hysterically driving through what a section of Lutyens’ Delhi. Balram (Adarsh Gourav) is seen sitting at the back of the car, wearing a Maharaja costume. They are shown driving past a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, a poor family and a cow on the road.
In less than one minute, Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani shows us elements that the West usually associates India with.
Booker prize winner Aravind Adiga, the author of the eponymous novel, was dark and unapologetically brutal in the way he wove the story, which was told from the perspective of Balram Halwai, a lower-caste person who aims to crawl out of the “darkness” into the “light”.
The film did try to match up to the brutal honesty of the book, and while it did get some things right, a lot of it did not sit right with me. The book showed us the posh and privileged life of Ashok’s family in contrast to the destitute life of the poor. Despite some well-shot scenes, the enunciation seemed to be pandering more to a western audience. The transitions and Ashok’s superficial accent distracted from the narrative of the film. This is also why the scenes that seemed most authentic were of Balram speaking in Hindi to his grandmother, Kusum, in Laxmangarh.
Another important factor was the caste system in the book – not just how prevalent it is but also how it is perpetuated in urban spaces. Not that Adiga’s understanding of the caste system was succinct, I felt the film was further away from reality and was told from the upper caste lens. Besides, Bahrani also chose to erase several little significant scenes, like the time when Balram had to buy a new T-shirt and shoes just so he could enter a mall because drivers wore sandals and were stopped at the entrance; Or when his teacher in school sold their new uniforms. Balram said, “You can’t expect a man in a dung heep to smell sweet.”
Also read: ‘The White Tiger’: Social Message or Worn-Out Stereotypes?
Pinky and Ashok also laughed at Balram every time he said “maall” (mall) or “pijja” (pizza) in the book, because upper caste, privileged people laughing at a lower caste, less privileged person for mispronunciation is as classist as it gets.
One cannot talk about corruption and inequality without considering the political system that sustains it. Here, too, the book often talks about the ‘Great Socialist’ who aims to win the election again. To help themselves and the leader, Ashok’s family has to give a lot of funds to ministers. I thought the film would talk more about the power dynamics: how there were 93 criminal cases against the leader, a deal and a unanimous victory. But it did not.
In the book, Balram had a certain indifference towards Hinduism. When he was a child, he was called Munna until a teacher named him Balram. “The sidekick of Krishna,” he said. Balram’s irreverence did not just come from him being poor, but also how lower caste persons are treated. He thinks that while the poor continue praying to the gods, different politicians continue exploiting them. His servitude became his religion. The current dispensation in the country is the likely cause behind why such sections of the book remained unexplored in the film.
Also, why is it that American-returned Indians are the only ones shown to be empathetic? Is it more so because they re-wrote Pinky’s character? In the book, Pinky was quite critical of Balram initially, often asking Ashok as to why they chose him. She mostly complained and demanded to go back to America. Bahrani changed her character from being skeptical to being sensitive.
In terms of performance, Chopra Jonas really captured her conflicts at the regressive and patronising attitude of the family. However, one of the best scenes was when Balram realised that he is being made the scapegoat for a crime committed by Pinky the night they drove through Delhi. Adarsh did keep me glued to the screen with his performance.
The ‘half-baked’ Indian, as Balram called himself throughout most of the book, showed disdain towards Muslims but simultaneously praised famous Muslim poets, namely Rumi, Iqbal and Mirza Ghalib. He also stated how his landlord did not like Muslims. While it may irk some readers, when you realise the background and environment Balram grows in; it was perhaps intentional to show the prejudice of different class groups.
Given that the director has a liberty to choose, certain scenes are very crucial to the characters’ development and the equations they share. After Pinky left, Ashok went back to his old lover Uma – who Balram did not like. Soon after Balram misuses Ashok’s trust to earn more money, he starts thinking that killing Ashok is a sacrifice he had to make to become a wealthy entrepreneur, to make his mark.
The filmmakers should have taken a cue from The Parasite, which was in Korean with English subtitles, to not compromise on authenticity. We know Balram becomes a successful entrepreneur. We know of the great Indian rooster coop. But remember, “do we loathe our masters behind a facade of love or do we love them behind a facade of loathing?” Think again — who really are the masters and who are the slaves?
Aliza Noor is currently a freelance journalist in Lucknow who has worked with The Quint previously. She is a writer who is mostly found indulging in news and books. She tweets @AlizaNoor1501
Featured image credit: Netflix