The White Tiger: Survival of the Fittest! (Netflix)

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought it was going to be very similar to the great film "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008).  Although there are some similarities, they are very different films.  First of all, it's not a love story.  It's not an AAW film either, but it's still worth seeing.  Like SDM, it takes place in India and is about a poor man's rise to the top, but, after that, they are in different universes.  It's based on the novel of the same name written by Aravind Adiga (2008). The movie starts with Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav), established as a rich entrepreneur, but it quickly flashes back to his early childhood.  Balram is from a poor family.  He lives in Laxmangarh, a small rural town.  He is very smart – at school, he was told by his teacher that he was a "White Tiger" because someone as smart as him only comes along once in a generation.  The teacher promised that he would help Balram get into college.  Unfortunately, Balram is a slave to two masters.  The town is ruled by a mafia-type landlord (aka "The Stork"), who extracts unreasonable sums from the families who live there.  Balram's grandmother, the family matriarch and dictator, insists that Balram drop out of school to work in the family business.  His future looks bleak, indeed. An opportunity arises for Balram to become the number two driver for "The Stork," driving his son Ashol (Rajkummar Rao) and his wife Pinky (Priyanka Chopra) around.  Balram, however, first needs to go to driving school to get a driver's license.  Grandma loans him the money, but only on the promise that Balram give most of his earnings to her if he is lucky enough to get the job.  Although a considerable improvement from his prior position, his driver's job is no picnic either.  He still has almost no money and he isn't treated well by the Stork and others in his entourage. Balram sees himself as a servant and can't even consider how he could be an independent person, relying on his intelligence and ambition to reach his full potential.  In addition to his inner bondage, if he attempts to betray "The Stork," Balram's family members could be seriously hurt or even murdered.  How Balram overcomes his inner and outer obstacles to become rich is the rest of the story, although the vast majority of the movie is about Balram achieving inner and outer freedom, rather than his entrepreneurial success.  The lingering question for me is whether Balram's journey to success was worth the price he paid. Bottom Line: "The White Tiger" sinks its claws into you.