The White Tiger movie review round-up: Critics call it the ‘anti-Slumdog Millionaire’

Here’s what critics are saying about The White Tiger:

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney wrote in his review, “The sting of underclass payback doesn’t rival that of, say, Parasite, but the movie taps into the same simmering rage of the have-nots, shafted out of an unyielding system in a perilously unbalanced world. It could almost be considered the anti-Slumdog Millionaire.”

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman said The White Tiger is “like Slumdog Millionaire with more reality.” The review further read, “The White Tiger is a tale of beating the steepest odds, and for much of the film Bahrani is in full, boisterous command as a storyteller. He captures how a society is embodied in its smallest interactions: the way a rival driver Balram must first defeat is made vulnerable by having to hide his Muslim faith; or the parasitical cynicism of the servants Balram shares living quarters within a parking garage; or the cutthroat elitism of the Stork and his family.”

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw opined, “The White Tiger is a dangerous adventure of self-betterment from the teeming city streets, influenced by Adiga’s own avowed love of Dickens and Balzac, and it’s a really enjoyable story, though not without flaws.”

Indiewire’s David Ehrlich called The White Tiger “a brutal corrective to Slumdog Millionaire.” His review read, “Bahrani’s jagged sense of purpose and his street-level point-of-view allow him to attack this material with the same blunt force of Adiga’s book, and to suffuse it with the sights and sounds required to bring it all to life. Some are putrid, others intoxicating, but together they alchemize into a heady perfume of desperation that only wears off once the action slows down and shit gets real.”