Aravind Adiga's debut novel The White Tiger, with its themes of globalisation, individualism, social class and liberty, was a worldwide phenomenon when it was published in 2008. It made it to the New York Times bestseller list and also won the 40th Man Booker Prize that year. Now, it's been turned into a movie that will be on Netflix from Friday, January 22. Directed by Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop, 99 Homes), The White Tiger stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Rajkummar Rao and Adarsh Gourav.
It's no surprise that Bahrani wanted to tackle the novel as he and Adiga studied English literature at Columbia University in New York at the same time in the 1990s, where they met and discussed each other's work. Open the pages of the novel, and you'll find it's dedicated to Bahrani.
"Aravind is one of my closest friends," says the director, 45, who is also a professor of English literature at Columbia. "We've been trading ideas, book scripts for almost 15 years. I remember him sending me early drafts of The White Tiger. I thought: 'This is incredible.' I waited for almost 15 years to make this film."
The White Tiger tells the story of Balram (Gourav), a young Indian man who refuses to accept that he is born to be a servant in India's casteist society. Coming from a poor village family, his academic acumen is unfulfilled as poverty means he has to abandon school. He gets a job as a driver to a hip young Delhi couple, Ashok (Rao) and his liberal Indian-American wife Pinky (Chopra Jonas). Everything is going along smoothly until a tragic car accident proves to be a stark reminder that no matter how nice Balram's employers seem, he will always be their underling. But Balram has other ideas.
"He's got some crazy visions about what he sees," says Bahrani about the character whose rise is a metaphor for India's economic miracle. He hunts riches and power without considering who he is treading over or what laws he breaks on his way up.
Chopra Jonas was a huge fan of the book when she read it a decade ago. "So, when I read in movie trade magazines that it was being turned into a film, I called my agents and said this movie is not being made without me," she says.
Naturally, when one of the world’s biggest stars wants to be in your movie, the director will not only say yes, but also work out how to make the part bigger. In the film, Pinky is an opinionated outsider who asks questions about the treatment of servants in her home, offering a direct challenge to the traditional caste system.
On a Netflix post-movie panel, Chopra Jonas revealed that her move to America and her marriage to singer Nick Jonas helped her understand her character's viewpoint. "Pinky Madam's spot is more pivotal in the movie than the novel. Ramin has given her character such an interesting perspective. I had so much fun playing her, especially because I'm an Indian who has lived in India, and now having lived in America it was interesting to take on one of my first Indian-American parts.
“The class disparity is something that exists throughout the world, but specifically in India. It’s something we’re afraid to talk about, we condemn it openly, but it still exists.”
It was also an opportunity for Chopra Jonas to act with award-winning Indian actor Rao (Kai Po Che!, Shahid, Newton.) "I've never played a character like Ashok before," he says. "It was tough also because I had to pick up an American accent, which made me so nervous because I didn't want to sound forced and cliched."
Rao empathised with Ashok. "He's also stuck and a victim of the system. He's a compassionate guy, he's ambitious, he's recently returned from America and has a milder personality compared to his wealthy and entitled family. So I tried to make him human."
But the actor who is getting all the plaudits is Gourav. He made his debut as a young boy, opposite Shah Rukh Khan in My Name is Khan (2010), but The White Tiger is his breakthrough. Variety magazine called him an outsider for the Best Actor Oscar. Bahrani took advice from celebrated Indian casting director Tess Joseph (The Namesake, Lion, Aladdin), as he searched for someone who could play Balram.
“I really wanted to cast a local, and my hope was to find a fresh face, who maybe wasn’t born in a big city and not from a wealthy family,” says the director, whose parents are Iranian.
“Then, one day, Adarsh showed up. He was kind of dressed the part. He didn’t have any shoes on, and he came in and sat on his haunches, and I thought he’s sitting down like people I know in Iran, this is how the working class in Iran sit. I immediately perked up, and hoped he could act.”
Gourav adds: "I had a couple of rounds before I met Ramin, so by the time we met, I had started to understand Balram a little more. I was never a big reader when I was growing up, but The White Tiger was one of those books that I read when I was 14 years old. So, I had a fair idea of what the story and character was."
Even so, once Gourav landed the role, he immersed himself into the character. He introduced himself as Balram and worked in a tea shop in a small village, then went to Delhi and worked as a waiter and dish cleaner.
“I absolutely hated it, but the whole idea of doing that was to understand how much Balram hated doing what he was doing in the village and then discover how insignificant, how invisible he was to society and people around him.”
Although the story is set in India, Bahrani wanted to play up the universal themes. "It's the story of a man who is trapped and wants to be free; who can't understand that?
“It encompasses class, money, health care, the judicial system, caste and classism. It sounds like I’m talking about America, right?”
The director is keen for the film to show the rage that forms when ordinary people witness systemic corruption. While the book was viewed as an attack on Indian elitism, Bahrani wanted the film to look at the global picture. "The last four decades have shown that there is corruption in democracy. We can feel it in America, in India, in any country in the world. And that simmering rage is Balram."
The White Tiger is on Netflix from Friday, January 22
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Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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THE SPECS
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch
Power: 710bhp
Torque: 770Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 2.9 seconds
Top Speed: 340km/h
Price: Dh1,000,885
On sale: now
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
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'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
MATCH INFO
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 55')
Man of the Match Allan (Everton)
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
RACE CARD
5pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Purebred Arabian Cup Conditions (PA); Dh 200,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Cup Conditions (PA); Dh 200,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Cup Listed (TB); Dh 380,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Group 3 (PA); Dh 500,000 (T) 1,600m
7pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Jewel Crown Group 1 (PA); Dh 5,000,000 (T) 2,200m
7.30pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Handicap (PA); Dh 150,000 (T) 1,400m
8pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (T); 1,400m
RESULTS
5pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Purebred Arabian Cup Conditions (PA) Dh 200,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: Hameem, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Cup Conditions (PA) Dh 200,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Winked, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Cup Listed (TB) Dh 380,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Boerhan, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
6.30pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Group 3 (PA) Dh 500,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Jewel Crown Group 1 (PA) Dh 5,000,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Messi, Pat Dobbs, Timo Keersmaekers
7.30pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Handicap (PA) Dh 150,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Harrab, Ryan Curatolo, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Alareeq, Connor Beasley, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 1 (Carroll 82')
Leicester City 2 (Maddison 55', Tielemans 72')
Man of the match James Maddison (Leicester)
UAE v IRELAND
All matches start at 10am, and will be played in Abu Dhabi
1st ODI, Friday, January 8
2nd ODI, Sunday, January 10
3rd ODI, Tuesday, January 12
4th ODI, Thursday, January 14
