Adarsh Gourav - A Star Is Born
Adarsh Gourav is the ImageMakers & Influencers Magazine’s February Superstar Talent
“I think we can agree that America is so ‘yesterday’. India and China are so ‘tomorrow'.”
-Balram Halwai
From the screenplay of
The White Tiger
The White Tiger is an amazing rags-to-riches film tonally comparable to Slumdog Millionaire. This is a story of what can happen when ambition and humiliation lead an otherwise charming, positive, and innocent young man into the dark zone in his quest to leave his life in poverty behind. An awards contender with a meaningful message set in modern-day India.
The film’s star undoubtedly is Adarsh Gourav playing the lead character Balram Halwai. Balram, a young driver uses his wit and ambition to escape from poverty to become a successful entrepreneur. The film follows his emotional rollercoaster journey rising to the top from a servant class to reach the coveted “White Tiger” status.
Adarsh Gourav, 26, a fairly new talent in the world of Hollywood is amazing in this lead role playing alongside Priyanka Chopra and Rajikummar Rao who are in supporting roles. In addition to her acting role, Chopra, however, lent her star power to the film by exec producing it together with Ava DuVernay.
Directed, produced, and written for the screen by Iranian-American director/producer Ramin Bahrani The White Tiger is an adaptation of the Aravind Adiga novel that won the Man Booker Prize in 2008. It apparently took more than 12 years to make it to the screen. The film is globally available on Netflix and makes an awards push this year.
Adarsh has already been nominated for Best Male Lead in the Independent Spirit Awards for his role in The White Tiger and at the time of this article appeared on BAFTA’s long list for Best Lead Actor. We would love to see him being nominated in the lead actor category of the Academy Awards.
Because of his outstanding performance and great potential, Adarsh Gourav is The ImageMakers & Influencers Magazine’s featured February Superstar Talent.
The Road to Hollywood
His first role was in My Name is Khan (2010). He also played a substantial part in Sridevi’s Mom (2017) before crossing over into Hollywood to play Balram Halwai in The White Tiger.
He was already nominated Best Male Lead for his role in The White Tiger by the Independent Spirit Awards.
An actor, singer, and songwriter, Adarsh was born in the city of Jamshedpur. He spent his formative years in Mumbai where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and is an alumnus of the Drama School. His acting career started when he was in his teens and he has since been part of more than 50 TV and Digital Ad Campaigns notably having worked with Airtel, Cadbury, Dominos, Hotstar and Nescafe.
On the musical side, he has been the front man for 2 progressive metal bands in school and college and was classically trained in Hindustani Music for more than 9 years. He also worked with music legends in India as a playback singer for two Bollywood movies.
Based on his demonstrated acting skills, we are sure that’s not the last we’ll see of him.
What does Adarsh think of his role and new stardom?
"I think that entire journey was very fascinating and I think it would be a huge opportunity for any actor. I just hope that people really enjoy the film because it's infused with humor.”
Watch Adarsh as servant driver Balram in the trailer of Netflix’s The White Tiger below.