The White Tiger, produced by Mukul Deora, starring Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Rajkummar Rao and helmed by Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani is in case you missed an Acadamey Award nominee!
It tells the tale of the ambitious driver (Adarsh Gourav) of a rich Indian couple (Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao) who uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and become an entrepreneur.
After garnering numerous accolades across the globe, the film has been nominated for an Academy Award under the category of Best Adapted Screenplay. The beautiful tale, penned originally by Man Booker winner Aravind Adiga in his novel of the same name, is about is a gripping story that reflects realism and sheds light on the class divide prevalent in India. The empowering film is a loaded thriller. Ever since he read the book, Mukul Deora desired to give life to this enigmatic writing by Aravind Adiga.
Talking about how steps like these are working towards putting the new India on the map, lead actor of the film, Adarsh Gourav says, “This is a great time to be around for anyone creative. Digital platforms have opened up so many new doors of opportunities for us. The kind of work that is happening is a lot braver and more experimental. People are willing to take risks. We now don’t have to worry about box office numbers as such. We have to worry about our own craft and focus on that. The new India that we represent is exactly the new India that Balram represents where you dare to dream and you have the resources and opportunities to realise them.”
Producer Mukul Deora shares, “This is a movie about a driver killing his master. Last year there was Parasite, before that Roma. Why are these stories about uncomfortable truths being made all over the world and are successful? Not just in India. Because of digital platforms and new forms of media, there is a realisation that there was always a hunger for these stories amongst audiences. I always wanted to hear amazing, true, compelling stories, but because of the system that was there with marketing budgets being so high, and a winner takes all mentality, it was hard for 90 per cent of these movies to break through and to get financed. Now because they are easily viewed by anyone on phones, etc, the audience is lapping it up over the world. White Tiger was number 1 in 61 countries. It’s an amazing story. It really resonated with me.”
Renowned for his music and now cinema, producer Mukul Deora is currently working on his next film which will also be a book adaptation.
