फीका शेर

फीका शेर : My quick take on Netflix’s new release ‘The White Tiger’

I am not sure if a movie released on OTT platform can qualify for Oscars, as this movie was clearly made for such ‘festivals’. It has enough ‘slumdoggish’ portrayal of my country (as if there is nothing impressive about my country 😡). Though the movie is based on Arvind Adiga’s Man Booker prize winning novel with same name, it has all the elements of earlier Oscar winning work of Slumdog millionaire and Parasite. It blatantly showcases the cancerous class & caste divisions still prevalent in our society. For a change the setting of the plot has shifted from Dharavi to Dhanbaad then to Delhi and ends in Bengaluru.

As Mario Puzo has said ‘Behind every fortune there is a crime’, same can be said about this movie. The plot traces a growth arc of a poor halwai boy (played by Adarsh Gavrav) in a remote village in Dhanbad district to becoming a fleet owner in Bengaluru providing taxi services to IT guys. In fact entire movie is a narration from the protagonist’s point of view who is trying to justify his crimes.

I somehow don’t relish such plots which showcases the darker underbelly of our society hence for me this was more of a modern day chakra or salaam Bombay. I did not get logic of hiring an Iranian American director (Ramim Bahrani ) to direct this venture , maybe it’s a ploy to cater to international audiences.

It’s out and out Adarsh Gaurav’s movie, Rajkumar Rao and Priyanka Chopra were roped in to make the product salable, cinematography is impressive as it captures the Urban glossy life and Rural hinterland beautifully, I watched the movie with Hindi audio track which was quite‘palatable’ however there are not so good reviews about the English audio track.

Our bhai’s Tiger is more watchable than this white Tiger which in my view is created to whitewash our great nations progress we have made in past 7 decades. (Which incidentally is released on India’s republic day). Just avoid it, if you can.

नही तोभी आजकल असली शेर कहॅा दीखते है 🤓