The White Tiger Loses its Stripes; Todd Field Project Falls Apart

The book to screen adaptation of The White Tiger has reached an impasse as producers from the different invested countries have taken issue with helmer Todd Field’s artistic license of the original material at hand. According to THR, the filmmaker whose creative output has been short and sweet with his only offerings being 2001’s In the Bedroom and 2006’s Little Children, had delivered a first draft of the script, but now he might want to put his energy elsewhere (perhaps The Creed of Violence) as the rags to riches tale set in India is currently in a legal dispute (read about how Mumbai-based Watchtower Media Ventures felt they got kicked to the curb, while producers for Smuggler Films and Ohio Films appeared more serious about moving the project long quicker than the time it took for Tom Cruise’s fictional character Dr. Bill Hartford to find a party costume.

Gist: The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India’s class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. In detailing Balram’s journey first to Dehli, where he works as a chauffeur to a rich landlord, and then to Bangalore, the place to which he flees after killing his master and stealing his money, the novel examines issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India.

Worth Noting: Rooster Coop, the registered production company for the project was apparently in reference to the novel’s protagonist’s way of describing the underclass’ socio-economic trap.

Do We Care?: We don’t enjoy dry spells from auteurs we like. Excluding Captain Morgan commercials, we likely won’t see a new film from Fields anytime soon.