The White Tiger: Adarsh Gourav ‘Introduced’ In This film??!!!

 The anxiously-awaited screen  adaptation  of  Aravind Adiga’s  novel on class-conflict is ready.  The trailer grabs your attention not   because of  the  odd  lead pair—Rajkummar Rao(who seems  miscast) and Priyanka Chopra(who seems  to have nailed  the  part  with her natural NRI accent)  but because   of  the  third actor  Adarsh Gourav who is  rightly billed above  Rao and Chopra  in  the  trailer.

Adarsh is visible in nearly every frame . He is the “servant” the  underprivileged  outcast  who  is  destined to serve his  master and his wife. The  White Tiger  is  the story  of  his  rebellion and  revolt.No doubt  Adarsh has turned the part into something  extraordinary.

 But why is he billed as ‘introducing’  in  the  credit titles  of  the trailer? This is  not only erroneous  but also a falsification  of facts.  Adarsh Gourav has done some  films in the  past, the most notable being Atanu Mukherjee’s Rukh where he  played Manoj Bajpai’s rebellious son.Why is this promising  young actor’s  past  work being  obliterated ?

The trailer  of  The  White Tiger  brings  out  the class dynamics between the servants and the served  in that  over-punctuated way  that comes naturally to  a foreigner. I see a  lack of restrain here that  worries me. I  hope director  Ramin Bahrani (whose  99 Homes  about the  underprivileged  class in America is  among  the most vivid portrayals  of class conflict in recent times)  has room  for  silences  .

The trailer is too loud. Too  aggressive. Too beckoning.  It didn’t need  to be.