Every now and then there are movies that really get us by bringing to fore the dark underbelly of India. No, not the India most of us are familiar with but the more prevalent and nefarious side to it that we seldom get exposed to or even worse, the side we do get exposed to but are heavily desensitized towards as it is 'life as usual' for us.
'The White Tiger' is the latest such movie in the fray and is based on a 2008 novel by Aravind Adiga. It stars the immensely talented Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Rajkummar Rao and the lesser known actor Adarsh Gaurav, who by the way completely blew me away with his strong on screen presence and left me gasping for more.
Well, I am no movie critic but through this blog, I'd would like to merely share some reasons why this movie left such an impression on me.
India is NOT an egalitarian society
I believe, on many levels, I have always known this truth but living in an egalitarian country like Australia now, has completely dimmed my memory of how deplorable it back home in India but this movie single handedly brought it all back with a jerk. In Australia, it doesn't matter what your profession is or how much money you make - everyone is respected as a human being. Contrast this to India where there is no value attached to the life of a poor man. Well, there are almost a billion and a half of us so the life of a poor unfortunately comes either free or at best at a heavily discounted rate.
While, it may be common knowledge that there are glaring wealth gaps in India and the country is far from being an egalitarian society. But what is lesser known is the scorn and contempt the haves have towards the have nots, it's so appalling that it's reprehensible. Balram Halwai's character (Adarsh Gaurav) who is a chauffeur to a wealthy and influential family in 'The White Tiger' embodies this class divide. He is expendable and is routinely abused both physically and verbally by his masters. He is used as a scapegoat for the crimes of his masters but his loyalty towards them remains unflinched. One might take the movie with a grain of salt and think that many aspects of the movie are exaggerated - sad as it might be, but the story is more common in India than one would like to imagine. The blue collared folks are at the short end of the stick and the only voice that gets heard is the voice of the rich and powerful. The rich can and have silenced the poor in the past - and the saddest part is that the entire society is culpable and incahoots in this despicable act.
All of us are complicit
Yes, every single one of us is complicit. This class divide is ingrained in every single one of us and this reality is as common a knowledge as the survival instinct. Right out the gate, people size each other up to gauge their place in the food chain and the power play, which purely stems from the financial status, kicks in very early on. People with lower financial status naturally become subservient to the stronger party and this is reflected in pretty much every aspect of life.
This is so entrenched in our society that even if one doesn't want to succumb to the tenets of this class divide, it's practically impossible to stay inoculated towards this. Ashok's character (Rajkumar Rao) in the movie, who has returned from the United States, has a much kinder and calmer personality compared to his father and brother and is initially very respectful and compassionate towards his chauffeur Balram. But this soon takes a downward spiral where he too starts to take advantage of Balram's unquestioned devotion towards him and shows him his in the social standing by exploiting him.
Do you think this is uncommon - well, think again.
How many times have we thrown an inadvertent fit towards our servants, drivers or even a cobbler, hawker, carpenter, electrician or an Uber driver and others who do not share the same social status as us? There is a sense of superiority and smugness that reassures us that the stakes are too low and that all our demonic or even seemingly innocuous acts would be condoned by society at large. Why? Well, because this is the accepted social norm - hail the rich and repress the poor.
It is in fact a 'Rooster Coop'
Balram's character repeatedly uses the phrase 'Rooster Coop' to underscore how the Indian society is rigged against the poor to make sure that they always remain oppressed and controlled by the rich. The phrase draws its origin from a butcher shop where all the roosters are kept confined in a coop where they see their fate unfold right before them by watching other roosters being slaughtered, knowing pretty well that it's just a matter of time for them.
It's almost impossible for the poor to break free from this 'Rooster Coop' due to the lack of basic opportunities, ignorance at large and their myopic attitude towards life. The only way they can really challenge and upend the system is to have awareness and access to education but according to UNICEF,
"Out of 100 students, 29 percent of girls and boys drop out of school before completing the full cycle of elementary education, and often they are the most marginalized children."
There is absolutely no impetus for the poor to send their children to school as they look at life tactically and to see the returns from education generally takes several years. They'd rather force their children into labour to increase the family income and have more children by the same logic or get them married quite early (especially girls) so there is one less mouth to feed. So you can see why breaking out of this 'Rooster Coop' is impossible and if one is born poor in India, it is almost fait accompli that they will remain poor unless they take a ride against the tide by inculcating an education centric ideology that might go against their very DNA.
Honestly, this ideology is still far from being common among the poor but certainly not impossible - there are increasing cases of poor Indians cracking coveted colleges like Indian Institute of Technology and setting a shining example of breaking this 'Rooster Coop' just like Balram cracks this code, although unethically, and finds his way out by becoming a successful entrepreneur.
"I was looking for the key for years. But the door was always open"
~ Balram Halwai