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Imagine having to make a movie out of a book that was actually dedicated to you.
But it turned out to be quite a personal project.
How did you two first meet?Ramin Bahrani: We met in college at Columbia University.
Bahrani: Aravind was thinking of becoming a writer.
I was thinking of becoming a filmmaker.
We had a lot of discussions and talks about books, movies.
Sometimes we would see films together and then, after we graduated, the conversations continued.
I think its been over a 20-year dialogue, really.
Hes always read my scripts, given feedback on projects Im considering.
Sometimes Aravind sends me manuscripts and I, along with many other people, give feedback and notes.
Adiga: When Ramin madeMan Push Cart, he launched two careers his own and mine as well.
By that stage, I had moved back to India.
Id been thinking of writing a novel for over a decade.
I procrastinate and daydream a fair amount.
I thought,If he can make a film, I can certainly write a novel.
Was that why you dedicatedWhite Tigerto him?Adiga: Yes, absolutely.
I wouldnt have ever written a book if not for Ramins encouragement over something like 15 years before that.
He was competitive, but he didnt feel threatened by the presence of other creative people around him.
If someone else gets one of them, that just means one less review for you.
That was very important to me.
I dont come from an artistic family or an artistic background.
I grew up in a small town in the south of India.
I didnt know any writers, painters, artists.
You survived by doing exactly the same things that your father and mother had done.
My family were middle class and professional.
The idea was that I would become a doctor as my father was.
I was always very hesitant about actually setting out and taking a giant risk.
It was a financial risk to give up a job, to give up a career.
Initially, I wanted to be an academic.
After Columbia, I went to Oxford and studied English literature.
I knew that wasnt really what I wanted to continue with.
But I was still uncertain about how I would fund my ambition.
So I became a journalist, and I went back to India.
It was quite a gamble.
Theres a real freedom in his work that I keep trying to find in mine.
That was one of the joys of makingThe White Tiger.
The book is so entertaining when you read it.
Despite the heavy themes, the way he wrote it was so quick, playful, satirical.
There was something exciting about pursuing that challenge of trying new styles, new techniques.
People who know me knowfunis not really a word in my vocabulary.
But honestly, I had the most fun making this.
White Tigeris around two hours and has probably 70 more scenes than most of my feature films.
How do you construct those?
With cinematographer Paolo Carnera, who shot the seriesGomorrah, we also looked atDekalog: OneandFive.
How do we make each of those look different?
The village was predominantly handheld.
Even if there was a tracking shot, it was on a dolly handheld.
It had a 16mm grain to it.
Its dusty looking, as the village really was.
The section when hes in that rich villa, it was a bit more composed, with wider frames.
We were trying to capture a lush look that was new for him.
Its not just dark but a little strange and off-kilter down there.
Then in Bangalore, how do we make that look like the future?
Thats one of the only glass buildings in our film.
Theres a lot of Steadicam because hes confident and in charge now.
The camera exudes that confidence that he has.
Hes accosted by an old beggar woman.
Its a scene out of the novel that the actor took in a whole other direction.
Id say, Dont tell me, just do it!
My cinematographer and the operator, theyll let you do whatever you want.
And he pulled the whole street into the scene somehow.
Adarsh Gourav, who plays Balram, is stunning.
How did you find him?Bahrani: I wanted the cast to be Indian and from India.
But I really wanted the cast to be local.
For the lead, I was hoping I would find someone who was a newcomer.
When Adarsh first walked in the door, I liked his energy and his look.
He was really impressive in that first audition.
Then I found out that he came from a smaller town and a very middle-class family.
And he was a trained actor and had gotten a full scholarship to the best acting school in India.
He had done some supporting roles, and a short film for Anurag Kashyap.
He always looks like hes thinking.
And theres something charming about his smile; it feels sincere.
He imbued both qualities that I thought were needed for the character.
I showed the film to my parents, and my dad said, I did that!
My dad comes from a small village [in Iran] very similar to where Balram came from.
During the village sequence, he was already saying that: Thats my school.
That was how I grew up, with animals right where you live.
I also want to mention the other actors.
Rajkummar Rao is a huge star in India.
And then Priyanka Chopra is just a phenomenon and widely respected as a huge talent.
She has said publicly that she advocated to get this part.
Her instincts were so good.
All three actors honestly made the parts better than what I wrote.
I think you’re free to feel it in the movie that they liked each other.
In the novel, everybody is seen through Balrams eyes.
In the film, it seems we get a bit more of a sense of them as people.
That meant I had to bring other things to the actors that dont relate to how Balram imagined them.
That doesnt necessarily mean that Aravind or I think that is what this world is.
Thats just how that character sees things.
Aravind,The White Tigerwas obviously a huge hit when it was published.
Indias economic transformation begins in 1991, and today, we are exactly 30 years later.
The novel falls at the precise midpoint, in 2006.
People were questioning a lot of what was taken for granted in Indian society.
This is something that maybe isnt apparent to someone from outside.
And I would tell them, The only danger is being mobbed at a bookstore.
[Laughs] India was a very free country.
Im a very conservative, boring person.
I loved the new entrepreneurial view that the Indians were showing, which was unimaginable in my time.
But also it left me slightly anxious.
It was important that the characters should be ambivalent and likable both.
All of them, to me, were people in transition.
The Indian economy began slowing down well before COVID.
At its core, Indian society remains progressive.
I was in California last year for the first time.
Youd see me dashing in like a thief!
I was forced to do things that I wouldnt normally do otherwise as a middle-class person.
To me, it just seemed like a film student making a film on Dostoyevsky.
When the pickpocket is being handcuffed, Ramin says, Thats a great scene!
Yes, hes been handcuffed, whats the deal?
]And the French New Wave, which never impressed me as much as it has impressed him.
He is almost always right on cinema in the long run.
Bahrani: I cant remember, do you also feel that way about Antonioni?
Adiga: Not about Antonioni.
I foundThe Mastervery difficult to watch.
Ramin said, No, this is one of the great films of our time!
I watched it subsequently, and it is pretty extraordinary.
And I think he was right.
Theres a simplicity to the original film, which is very hard to beat.
My entire my life as a film viewer has largely been guided by Ramin.
And I would often go to these places.
There was Symphony Space near Columbia.
And there was Lincoln Center, the Walter Reade.
Many of these places would show films so cheap.
There was one particular theater that used to show two terrific films for $2 or something.
I think its shut down.
Bahrani: Theatre 80 St. Marks.
It became a live stage theater.
And I once watched RenoirsRules of the GameandGrand Illusion.
So I had to walk over 100 blocks to get back to Columbia.
