Oscar Nominations 2021: The Snubs And Surprises
5. Surprise: The White Tiger In Best Adapted Screenplay
Netflix's drama The White Tiger, a story about a young driver who ambitiously rises out of poverty in India, was definitely not expected to make the cut of the five best adapted screenplays of the year. It got a surprise WGA nomination but that was boiled down to the fact frontrunners The Father and Nomadland weren't eligible at the WGA.
Now at the Oscars, all three managed to get nominated. The White Tiger besting popular films such as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (which we'll get to later) and News of the World, in addition to dark horses The Mauritanian and I'm Thinking of Ending Things is no small task.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm also made the cut but so did the first Borat, not to mention the fact that the sequel was boosted by Maria Bakalova's lauded performance. The White Tiger did not have any such advantage going into the nominations so it is impressive to see it here. It'd be easy to say it has no chance of winning, but it was underestimated before.