'The White Tiger' Is a Rags to Riches Story at the Virtual KCET Cinema Series on Jan. 22
Q&A immediately following with screenwriter and director Ramin Bahrani.
Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) has been trained by Indian society to be one thing — a poor servant. To better his situation, he makes himself indispensable as a driver to two rich masters who have just returned from America. After a night of betrayal, he realizes the corrupt lengths Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas) will go to save themselves at his expense. On the verge of losing everything, Balram rebels against them and the system to become a new kind of master. Based on the New York Times bestseller and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Aravind Adiga.
Bahrani shared, “The film is about a man’s quest to be free. In a rooster coop, birds watch one another being slaughtered but do not rebel or try and break free. This powerful central metaphor from the novel is from Balram’s mind. It shows how he thinks the poor and working class, like him, are in a similar trap. It upends his traditional Indian family which he sees as a force that keeps his social inequality alive by encouraging him to be a servant. And, if a servant attempts to steal from or cheat his employer, they will murder or torture the servant’s family. With the rules so overwhelmingly stacked against the poor, Balram must sacrifice everything, including his attachment to morals and to his own family to break free from ‘the coop.’”
Immediately following the screening, Deadline’s chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on KCET’s Must See Movies, will moderate a Q&A with screenwriter and director Ramin Bahrani.
The film screens on Fri., Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. PDT. Only $10 per viewing link. Limited space available.
The deadline to register for this screening is Thursday, January 21 at 9 a.m.
To sign up, click here.
