The Legend of Balram Halwai

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It was the summer of 2010 when I first met Balram Halwai.

I reached hostel three days before the classes were to start. It was the penultimate year of a tepid four year long education, and I had got a room for myself on the top floor. When I entered the room, I found that it was barren. It's previous inhabitant - a fat guy who was known to carry out fermentation experiments in that room - had left nothing except for the bed and a broken table.

I dropped my hold-all on the ground and pressed all the switches on the switchboard...nothing. Electricity had always been a problem during summer. I felt tired for no reason and longed for a nap. But the thought of unfolding my hold-all and taking out the mattress seemed laborious enough to kill me. I walked across to the decrepit table and wondered if it would be of any use. I pulled open the drawer in hope of finding nothing at all, but did expect to see some loose change. And that’s when I saw the tiger. The White Tiger.

I was told that the fat guy was a book-digger, apart from his obsession with brewing experiments. It was a hardcover edition, with a very interesting cover design. I turned a few pages, skipping the Author’s note, whom he was grateful to and all that. And then I met Balram Halwai. I read the first page standing. The next thing I remember – I was lying supine on that wooden skeleton of a bed, sans the mattress, turning pages after pages, hours after hours. I forgot about the heat in that sultry room without electricity; I didn’t even remember to eat. Balram’s story was riveting, shocking and eye-opening. The excruciating tale of ‘have’s and ‘have-nots’ could not have better told than the master novelist, Aravind Adiga in this magnum opus of a book.

It’s been after twelve odd years that I get to revisit the story again, this time on the screen (well, on the laptop screen). Ramin Bahrani has made a wonderful movie, doing absolute justice to the original plot. Whilst reading, I had often wondered how this guy Ashok would look like – a foreign educated, decent and a mellower member of an arrogant, rich, landlord family. And Rajkumar Rao has painted a very close picture of him. Priyanka Chopra Jonas was equally amazing. It’s interesting how both these talented Indian actors had never worked together in any Bollywood movie, and the first time we get to see them together is in an American production house presentation. Mahesh Manjrekar and Vijay Maurya have left their marks, even with their limited screen presence. But the real deal in the movie is Adarsh Gourav – the White Tiger, Balram Halwai. Gourav has left a new benchmark of acting in this movie. His mere expressions speak a thousand dialogues. We are left to pity with Balram’s condition at first, question his motives at times, and ultimately ask ourselves of how we were to react if placed in his shoes.

The White Tiger is a gem of a movie. But I would still say that the book was better.

Thank you Netflix for bringing back some old memories.




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