The White Tiger (2021)

Adarsh Gourav: Balram

Photos 

Quotes 

• Balram : Iqbal, that great Muslim poet, was right when he wrote, "The moment you recognize what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave.''

• Balram : Rich men are born with opportunities they can waste.

• Balram : There is a story about a cunning Brahmin trying to trick the Buddha?

  Balram : The Brahmin asks, "Master do you consider yourself man or god?" To which the Buddha smiles and says, "Neither." "I'm just one who have woken up while the rest of you are still sleeping."

• Balram : In the old days, when India was the richest nation on Earth, there were 1,000 castes and destinies. These days, there are just two castes. Men with big bellies and men with small bellies. And there are only two destinies, eat or get eaten up.

• Balram : The greatest thing to come out of this country in its 10,000-year history... the rooster coop. They can see and smell the blood. They know they are next, yet they don't rebel. They don't try and get out of the coop.

• Balram : What a miserable life, having to hide his religion and name just to get a job as a servant.

• Balram : Men born in the light, like my master, have the choice to be good. Men born in the coop, like me, we don't have that choice.

• Balram : But for the poor, there are only two ways to get to the top, crime or politics. Is it like that in your country too?

• Balram : It was all worthwhile to know, just for a day, just for an hour, just for a minute, what it means not to be a servant.

• Balram : The next morning, Mr. Ashok did something he had never done. He gave me a day off. But by now, I knew the rich never give anything for free.

• Balram : The real nightmare is the other kind where you feel like you didn't do it, that you didn't kill your master, that you lost your nerve, and that you're still a servant to another man.

• [last lines] 

  Balram : [to the camera]  I switched sides. I made it, I've broken out of the coop.

• Balram : I was trapped in the rooster coop, and don't believe for a second there's a million rupee game show you can win to get out of it.

• Ashok : So, Balram, do you know what the Internet is?

  Balram : No, sir, but I could drive to the market right now, sir, and get as many as you want.

• Balram : [narrating]  I am not a politician. There are extraordinary men who can kill and move on.

• Balram : [narrating]  The last days in my success story was to go from social entrepreneur to business entrepreneur. This was not easy. But I had an edge, I had come to Bangalore, and Mr. Ashok had told me the future: out-sourcing.

• Balram : I don't give it to you because I need to, but because I want to.

• Balram : The trustworthiness of servants is so strong that you can put the key of emancipation in a man's hand and he will throw it back at you with a curse.

• Ashok : Yeah, I heard you can read. Have you ever seen a computer?

  Balram : Yes, sir. Actually, we had many of them in the village, with the goats.