White Tiger review: Poverty porn 2.0

In 2008, the makers of Slumdog Millionaire slapped some brown faces on a film that glorified “poverty porn”. One of those brown faces was an unknown Indian actress, Freida Pinto. In 2008 Freida Pinto had not attended the Oscars, did not have 60M Instagram followers, and had not starred in any Hollywood production. So, Ms. Pinto had no ability to influence how Slumdog Millionaire shaped up.

Without taking away anything from Ms. Priyanka Chopra’s incredible talent, hard work and entrepreneurial attitude, the reason Ms. Chopra is attending the Oscars, has 60M Instagram followers and is one of the Producers of The White Tiger is because ~400M Indians have gained access to the power of the Internet since 2008 when the book, The White Tiger, was published. So, in a complete contrast to Freida Pinto’s status in 2008, Ms. Chopra had the power and ability to ensure that The White Tiger, the film, would grow beyond the book and incorporates 2020 realities that would resonate with its audience today. Hollywood has altered many blockbusters such as Iron Man series and the Bond films significantly from the books and comics they are based on to suit the taste of the Chinese audience. But sadly, the Indian audience is not worthy of such efforts in spite of the fact that the biggest market for Netflix are Indians who will watch The White Tiger on their Chinese cell phones, live in Tier 2,3 cities making less than $700/month.

The White Tiger is a technically brilliant but flawed film that is only interested in using Ms. Chopra for her reach but doesn’t give her a voice to speak up on behalf of the people she represents in 2020.