The White Tiger

    From India (but spoken in English for the most part) comes this new drama of class struggle in the Indian Caste system. As our protagonist, Balram, says 'there are only two types of people in India, those that live in the darkness and those that live in the light".

     Coming from a small, poor village, Balram is definitely one living "in darkness" but he hopes to improve his life by becoming the driver of a wealthy businessman named Ashok. When the film begins, we learn early on that Balram has become successful but just how, we learn in surprising flashbacks. Balram narrates his story as he composes an email to the Chinese Premier on the eve of his visit to India.

       While the film may remind you somewhat of "Slumdog Millionaire" (even given a sly reference), this is a very different kind of "rags to riches" story.

          Balram is played by Adarsh Gourav, a very engaging young actor and the film co-stars Rajkummar Rao as Ashok and Priyanka Chopra as his wife, Pinky.

            Written (screenplay based on the novel) and directed by Ramin Bahrani (who made the excellent "Man Push Cart" in 2005), the film crackles with energy and doesn't hold back from showing the dark side of Indian culture. It also has a great score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans,  mixing traditional Indian music and Hip-Hop. The film is a Netflix exclusive.