Everyone is talking about The White Tiger, the Netflix adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s book, starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao, and directed by Ramin Bahrani. And you cannot talk about the film without talking about the cunningly slick central character, Balram Halwai, played by Adarsh Gourav. Recently nominated for best actor at the Independent Spirit Awards, Gourav talks to THE WEEK about his role and how he prepared for it.
Q\How did you bag the role of Balram?
A\ In June 2019 I got a call from [casting director] Tess Joseph’s office to audition for Balram’s part. Even thinking about getting the part was out of the question, because it was a huge film and [the role] would be way out of my league. I had read the book when I was 14, so I had the context to the character and the story. So I gave the audition, which was followed by four to five rounds of rigorous auditions, at which Ramin was also present. After a month, Ramin went back to New York, and following a discussion with Netflix US, he called me and offered the part. It was unreal.
Q\You have received critical acclaim for your stellar performance. How did you prepare for the role?
A\ The first thing I did was, I packed my bags and went to a small village called Chalkari Basti in Jharkhand, where I stayed with a friend. The villagers thought I was helping my friend to write a story about the village. The idea was to get people to be themselves and trust me, so that I could get a sense of what their worldview was. After that I went to Delhi and worked at a small food stall. I had asked the stylist to send me some of Balram’s clothes. I would not bathe very often, so I was looking kind of worn out. My beard was overgrown and my hair was oily, and I had been practising my accent as well. For two days I roamed the streets of Saket looking for a job. On the third day, I found a person outside Saket court who let me clean plates and run errands for him. I worked at his stall for around two weeks.
Q\How was it working with Priyanka and Rajkummar?
A\ Fantastic! I have grown up on Rajkummar Rao’s films and am a huge fan of ones like Trapped and Newton. They have helped me understand how an actor thinks. Priyanka made us feel at home and was very grounded. She was born in Jamshedpur and I grew up there, so we had a lot to talk about. Ramin, too, is a genius to work with. He gave us so much space to find our own truth. He never called out ‘action’ or ‘cut’. He would always say [to start] whenever we were ready.