The White Tiger | 2021 | R | – 4.6.8

Why is “The White Tiger” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language, violence and sexual material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, a passionate kissing scene, several references to sex and body parts, cleavage revealing outfits, several deaths (real and imagined) by bludgeoning, gunshot, traffic accident, stabbing and disease with bloody wounds shown, and nearly 40 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set in Delhi, and based on Aravind Adiga’s 2008 novel: An intelligent young man (Adarsh Gourav) seems destined to a life of poverty and toil in rural India, but manages through gumption and determination to become a driver for a wealthy family. He eventually realizes, however, that being unfailingly submissive and loyal, is not the way to get ahead when your employers are corrupt and abusive. Also with Priyanka Chopra, Rajkummar Rao, Mahesh Manjrekar, Perrie Kapernaros, Swaroop Sampat, Vijay Maurya, Vedant Sinha and Nalneesh Neel. Directed by Ramin Bahrani. Many lines of dialogue are spoken in Hindi with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:05]

The White Tiger SEX/NUDITY 4

 – We hear a man and a woman moaning from behind a closed door as a man outside the door listens (sex is implied). A man and a woman kiss passionately in the backseat of a car and the driver watches them and touches his crotch suggestively; the couple stops kissing.
► A man teases another man in a few scenes and he grabs his crotch and pokes him, making sexual remarks. A woman confronts a man for scratching his crotch in front of her while serving drinks to her and a guest, and accuses him of being filthy and smelling bad. A man makes remarks about women’s breasts and genitals in a sexual manner in a few scenes.
► Several women wearing cleavage-revealing outfits walk past a few men in a group. A man squats on the ground (we see partial bare buttocks) and another man unfastens his pants and squats with him. A pornographic magazine is shown with a woman with bare breasts on the cover. A woman wears low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes.

The White Tiger VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A man beats a man in the back of the head with a broken bottle, pins him on the ground and quickly slits his throat (we see blood) before leaving him to die in a muddy puddle. A woman drives erratically, swerving through traffic, around a cow in the road and honking her horn until a child walks into the road and the car hits the child (we hear a thud and see the motionless body in the street); we see this scene twice. A man uses a brick to beat two people to death (we see blood), we hear a gunshot and a child falls dead, a man stabs an elderly woman in the abdomen (we see blood) and several other people are shown dead on the ground with bloody wounds.
► Two men argue, one man grabs the other man and shakes him and the other man shoves him to the floor. A man kicks another man to the floor. A man hits another man in the head with a newspaper and a woman yells, asking, “Why do you hit the servants?” A man hits another man in the face. A man is held at gunpoint. A woman pounds on a car window to wake up a sleeping driver inside and he wakes with a start. A woman tells a man to get out of a car and she speeds away leaving him alone on the side of the road (she returns later). A man throws his shoes in anger. A woman yells at a man and another man reprimands her for speaking, and then reprimands her husband for allowing it and tells him to “rein her in.” A man passed out on the sofa and another man tries to wake him by slapping him in the face a couple of times. A man knocks a bowl out of another man’s hand, spilling its contents on the floor. A man slaps a boy in the face (we see his bloody lip). A man talks about what happens to servants who steal from their masters and we see a man bound and shot, and he talks about the family of the servant being murdered.
► A man dies from tuberculosis, we see him being carried in a funeral procession and his body is set ablaze while grieving people watch and his young son faints. A man in a market cuts the heads and feet off chickens and we see feathers and bloody, severed heads and feet in a pile while other chickens look on from cages. Several scenes show people living in squalor. A man sleeps on the floor in a dark basement storage area.
► A man says, “I want to smash your skull and steal your money.” A wanted poster shows the face of a man and we read that he is wanted for murder. A man’s voice-over reflects on the servant classes in India, his youth, the death of his father, and lost opportunities. A woman is described in several scenes as “The great socialist.” A man describes his family as always being in debt. A man talks about people of a certain caste having “aggression in their blood.” A man makes a remark about sticking it to the rich. A man turns another man in to his employer for being Muslim and the man is fired. A man says, “People are bad,” and “Police are rotten.” We hear about a man delivering bribes to a minister. A woman speaks disparagingly of her grandson. Two men argue and one storms away. A woman confronts a man for scratching his crotch in front of her while serving drinks to her and a guest, and accuses him of being filthy and smelling bad. A husband and his wife argue and she leaves, later filing for divorce. A man makes a comment about wanting to “cut the throat of someone rich.” A man yells at a woman for begging for money on a street. We hear that 17 family members were murdered. A man talks about something making his stomach churn. A man talks about another man’s skin disease making his stomach churn.
► A man learns to drive and an instructor tells him how to be aggressive, honking his horn and yelling at other drivers. Two men pray competitively with one man speaking faster and louder than the other. Monkeys run across power cables in a few scenes. A man pounds a pipe on a rock in anger.
► A man vomits after drinking too much we hear gagging and splattering in a toilet (we do not see goo). People are shown bathing in a dirty river. Many family members sleep together in a room and we hear someone flatulate. A man coughs deeply in several scenes, he spits blood and we hear that he has tuberculosis when he is shown in a crowded clinic. A woman spits a brown material onto a table during a meeting with a family. A man swats and kills a mosquito and another man talks about transmission of malaria. Two men urinate on the side of a road (we do not see flesh or urine). A man brushes his teeth and spits foam. A man walks using a crutch with one missing leg. A man squats on the ground (we see partial bare buttocks) and another man unfastens his pants and squats with him.

The White Tiger LANGUAGE 8

 – About 38 F-words and its derivatives, 3 sexual references and a few sexual hand gestures, 10 scatological terms, 8 anatomical terms, 1 mild obscenity, 2 derogatory terms for gay men, name-calling (servant, yellow man, murderer, eunuch, crazy, idiot, brown man, shy old granny, fool, country mouse, sweet loyal dog, poor baby, socialist, jerk, cheat, freak, pervert of nature, lazy, half-baked, insane, drama queen, communists, vague, disgusting, sister [F-word deleted], insolent, maharajah), exclamations (ugh, keep your mouth shut, shut-up, shhh, relax, calm down, please), 10 religious exclamations (e.g. Grateful To God, Oh My God, God, two men pray competitively). | profanity glossary |

The White Tiger SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man drinks heavily until drunk, and a man drinks whiskey in a few scenes. A man smokes cigarettes, and a man smokes a cigarette in a car and tells his driver not to tell his wife.

The White Tiger DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Caste systems, death of a parent, lost opportunities, freedom, fate, Gandhi, shame, malaria, tradition, secrets, piety, regret, guilt.

The White Tiger MESSAGE

 – Contemporary India is a land of exploitation, inequality, abuse and corruption; hence, to get ahead you may need to engage in otherwise nefarious acts.