Minia's Mundane Musings

  The White Tiger I never did enjoy the book that this movie is based upon. Whilst my reading of the book itself, I had felt a sense of disconnect from it, and this chiefly arose from the fact that the author appeared to have used elements from the Indian society to tick boxes. Caste divides – check! Economic divides – check! Political divides – check! Gender divides – check! And then market the hell out of the book to garner support for an elevated prize. This post is sure to ruffle a few feathers, but I am sticking to my guns! The movie is a true adaptation and I quite liked the performance by it’s lead – the raw Gaurav Adarsh. He was good but has a long way to go as yet. He did not show any depth and that was unfortunate as the one thing that was good in the book were the many layers that Balram Halwai was endowed with. He does have a good narrative voice though. And what a strange choice of movie for Rajkummar Rao to say yes to! He is never in the thick of thing...

When one has lost complete faith in the creativity of mainline bollywood cinema, along comes a movie such as this, which delights and gladdens the heart. Very few movies combine the genres of slice of life and comedy, so skillfully. Think Piku and Vicky Donor, and I would slot this one right there. The comedy is a gentle one with subtle writing and the veterans cast in it, give it the perfect edge. Let's start with the supporting cast of Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Supriya Pilgaonkar and Annu Kapoor, this is just the kind of writing that they thrive on. Consider the performance of Annu Kapoor, he acts not just with his face, which in this one, is obliterated with hair, his entire body acts. He was rarely in the mainframe but his gestures conveyed so much with few dialogues. The Pahwas play off of, each other and Supriya is a master, bringing just the right touch of overt humor. She plays mother to an actor her own age and never do you feel it. Fatima Sana Shaikh is competent. S...