Disney, the Coca-Cola of the animation industry, has remade The Jungle Book series, and the trailer is stunning in every which way.
While the film has a starcast of Bill Murray, Christopher Walken and Scarlett Johansson has ruffled the right kind of feathers worldwide, but there’s another reason Indians have a special bond with the story of the little boy who was raised by wolves.
The Jungle Book was staple Sunday morning diet for an entire generation of Indians (read Saptarshi’s riveting article on Doordarshan shows here). The animated series on Mowgli, Bagheera and Sher Khan had captured the imagination and fantasies of the nation’s children.
The series had music by Vishal Bharadwaj, lyrics written by Gulzar, and had Nana Patekar’s gravelly voice for Sher Khan. The animation was done by a Japanese studio and had been widely acclaimed all over the world. The characters of Mowgli, Bagheera, Kaa, and Sher Khan have been etched permanently in the minds of Indian children worldwide.
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories written by British author Rudyard Kipling, who was born in India, and spent much of his childhood and early working years.
The Jungle Book was a collection of the many folk stories that Kipling had heard and imagined during his stay in India. The stories are now in public domain, and you can read/download them online at Project Gutenberg for free here.
While the stories have given wings to the imaginations of millions of children worldwide, not many know that there is a heart-wrenchingly sad story behind The Jungle Book.
