Getting an opportunity to play Balram’s role in The White Tiger felt unreal because it was a mammoth production and many were competing with me to get the part. Tess Joseph, the casting director, called me for an audition and sent me a couple of scenes: one of Balram as a driver and one of him as a successful businessman. Though she didn’t reveal the film’s name, I had read the book as a teenager and immediately knew it was White Tiger. At the audition, I was determined to give my best. I had five or six rounds of audition with producer Mukul Deora and producer-director Ramin Bharani. Ramin called me from New York and said that he wanted me to play Balram. It all felt surreal—the blankness of shock, then of relief, then the gradual sinking in of the news. I knew it was going to be huge and that I could do most of the opportunity.
I feel very special when people talk about the film and the...
