For Indian moviegoers and fans of The Jungle Book, it was all nostalgic to relive your childhood memories with the cinematic release of Rudyard Kipling’s beloved story in this Walt Disney Pictures production from director Jon Favreau. Looking at the popularity, the movie gets its release ahead of the USA, and rightly so; theatres in all metro cities are running houseful. So far, the general audience review you get is “visually stunning and thoroughly nostalgic”.
We all have watched many 3D or what we call computer-generated imagery (CGI) technology in numerous movies, some are interesting and some are not that great; but this one is for sure going to change our notion of modern visual and graphics technologies in a real-world setting. Talking more about the experience, you can see every other animal created in this film connects you more. Maybe it’s the story or the actors who lend their voice, but overall, it’s the experience that will stay with you forever.
On the other side, as suggested by a few of my friends, it’s Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 book and also the 1989 animated series that allows you to connect to every character on an emotional level. Nevertheless, it’s apt to see everything together in order to enjoy this incredible story involving a man-cub in the middle of animal society.
The Jungle Book | Official Hindi Trailer
Hindi version of ‘The Jungle Book’
The Hindi dubbed version of The Jungle Book is all nostalgic for the 90s kids. For all Indians who had watched Mowgli every week for half an hour Sunday morning this is nothing but a treat. Director Jon Favreau with his vision certainly had a chance to inspire many Indians of that decade but Disney India certainly nailed it by including popular names from Bollywood.
Actors like Irrfan Khan (the bear Baloo), Priyanka Chopra (Kaa, the python), Nana Patekar (Shere Khan), Om Puri (Bagheera, the Black Panther), and Shefali Shah (Raksha, the wolf) have lent their voice to the Hindi version of “The Jungle Book”. For many of us here in India who have watched the animated series aired on Doordarshan (DD1) in the early 90s will for sure prefer the Hindi version.
The icing on the cake turns when you get to hear the same voice of the fearsome tiger. Yes, Nana Patekar, who has earlier dubbed for Shere Khan in “The Adventures of Mowgli” (1989), is back voicing the same.
In addition to Hindi, The Jungle Book has also been released in some other regional Indian languages and the movie is only receiving rave reviews from almost all movie reviewers on television and print media. And finally, I must mention our all-time favorite song “Jungle Jungle baat chali hai, pata chala hai, chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai…” i.e. now been renewed by none other than its original music composer Vishal Bhardwaj and lyricist Gulzar.
Nothing more, just go and catch the show, and if possible both English and Hindi, but remember to watch the Hindi dubbed version first. You will know why it’s going to be an epic. Let ‘The Jungle Book’ rule the next few weeks; it’s visually enchanting, thoroughly engaging, and amazingly entertaining.
Watch the English language trailer of ‘The Jungle Book’
Where to watch The Jungle Book (2016)
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