Bhubaneswar: The trailer of upcoming live-action adventure film Mowgli which is based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book regaled the audiences in the city Tuesday. The Andy Serkis-directed movie is the second after the 2016 The Jungle Book which was directed and produced by Jon Favreau and produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
The trailer released May 21 got altogether 2,410,796 views so far. The movie depicts the upbringing of human child Mowgli, enacted by Rohan Chand, and raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India. As he learns the harsh rules of jungle, under the tutelage of a bear named Baloo and a panther named Bagheera, Mowgli is accepted by the animals as one of their fraternity. However, a ferocious tiger Shere Khan does not accept him into the jungle community. But, greater danger lurk in the jungle, as Mowgli comes face to face with his human origins.
The fans of the Jungle Book, are excited about the movie which is a dark adaptation of Kipling’s classic book (1894). Director Andy Serkis is known for his motion picture roles such as Golam in Lord of the Ring and Caesar in Planet of the Apes. His fans expect another landmark performance from him this time. The film’s star cast have given voice to the animal characters such as Christian Bale as black panther Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as snake Kaa, Benedict Cumberbatch as tiger Shere Khan, Naomie Harris as Nisha the wolf , director Serkis is Baloo (bear) and actor Frieda Pinto is playing Mowgli’s mother.
Ananya Mohanty, a movie buff, said the movie seems to follow Kipling’s narrative more closely than earlier adaptations. “Unlike the colourful The Jungle Book cartoon we have grown up and watched the 2016 film
wherein Mowgli is dark, gritty and wild. And of course, he is visually spectacular,” she said. ‘
Ankit Bansal, a computer generated imagery (CGI) expert in the city said making a movie with CGI and motion capture (Mo Cap) has become the norm of big budget movies. Director Serkis had played two iconic roles using Mo cap which captures an actor’s performance and applies it to a CGI character. “It will be great to watch animal expressions of actors Christian Bale and Benedict,” says Bansal. Kartik Das, an author, said the last movie based on Kipling’s book was successful in the eyes of the critics. “That kind of a success will be a hard task for this movie, but it has huge star cast which forced me to think otherwise,” avers Kartik.
Another Kipling fan, Sudhir Patnaik said Serkis had tried to showcase the darker aspect of the fiction. “Not everything is a fairy tale and life has darker sides too.”The 2016 movie was dubbed in Hindi by film stars Nana Patekar who voiced for Shere Khan, actor Om Puri for Bagheera, Irfan Khan for Baloo and Priyanka Chopra for Kaa. The fans expect other known stars to dub for this movie scheduled for release October 19.