20 Best Movies Of 2021 (So Far)
8. The White Tiger
Ramin Bahrani's The White Tiger - which saw Bahrani receive a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination - dauntingly adapts Aravind Adiga's 2008 novel of the same name to the big screen with tremendous skill.
Chronicling the life and times of Balram (a superb Adarsh Gourav) from an unassuming life as a poor Indian villager to ruthless entrepreneur, The White Tiger is a darkly comedic satire of both India's social structure and late-stage capitalism as a whole.
Gourav, who should've been in the Best Actor Oscar conversation, is a revelation as Balram, portraying a man frayed at the seams by his increasingly abject predicament, as he struggles to carve out a lot for himself.
True to form, writer-director Bahrani never loses sight of his characters' humanity, even in the funniest and grimmest of circumstances, delivering his most populist dramatic work in the process.