Barely a week after its premiere on Netflix, The White Tiger’s Adarsh Gourav has won his first major nomination for Best Male Lead at the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The Indian actor has been receiving rave reviews for his breakthrough role as Balram Halwai in Ramin Bahrani’s adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s award-winning novel.
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Along with the young actor, filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane’s latest film The Disciple (2020) has also been nominated for Best International Film. Other nominees include helmers Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho for Brazil’s Bacurau (2019), Philippe Lacôte for Ivory Coast’s Night of the Kings (2020), Lili Horvát for Hungary’s Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020), and Jasmila Žbanić for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020).
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Meanwhile, Gourav will go up against Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal (2019), Rob Morgan in Bull (2019), Steven Yeun in Minari (2020), and the late Chadwick Boseman in Netflix's Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020). While Gourav is still a possible contender at the Oscars, Tamnhane’s film is not India’s official entry to the awards. The selection committee chose the Malayalam film Jallikattu (2020), directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery instead.
The 36th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held on 22 April.