Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle is a gripping and a fairly entertaining ride. The duration is perfect at 104 minutes. The first half is longer but the second half is quick and keeps viewers firmly engaged. The lead actor Rohan Chand is terrific and gets totally into the skin of his character. The motion capture and effects are also very well done. Talking of voiceovers in the Hindi version, Abhishek Bachchan comes out with flying colours as Bagheera. Jackie Shroff’s baritone voice suits Shere Khan very well. Madhuri Dixit’s sweet voice is apt for Nisha and Kareena Kapoor, as expected, is too good as the mysterious Kaa. Finally, Anil Kapoor does total justice to Baloo. Any blemishes? Unfortunately, yes and there are quite a few of them. Firstly, comparisons are inevitable with The Jungle Book, which recently released. That flick was a completely entertaining ride and had loads of thrilling and funny moments. But Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle is neither hilarious nor does it has the scare or thrill quotient, the latter in most scenes at least. Yes, it keeps you hooked on your seat but barring a few scenes, it doesn’t make you skip your heartbeat. Also, the execution by Andy Serkis is a bit messy and incoherent, especially in the second half. All in all, Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle can be seen once for the hype, effects and few scenes but make sure to keep your expectations low!

My rating - *** out of 5!

As Anil Kapoor joins the voice cast of Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle, the actor reminisces his first brush with Hollywood in Slumdog Millionaire
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; December 2, 2018)

Anil Kapoor is gung-ho at the fag-end of the day. He's had a marathon round of interactions for Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle, which drops on Netflix on December 7. His enthusiasm is infectious, his energy unbridled when you catch up with him at a Juhu hotel. He wonders why you look tired. You mumble about a long day, a long wait and he is amused.

Kapoor turns a year older (or rather a year younger) on December 24. As it coincides with Christmas Eve, he usually has a bash. "I don't know if I will be celebrating this time, it might be a family affair," says Kapoor alluding to the sudden death of sister-in-law Sridevi in Februrary this year. "Elders in the house and mummy/daddy would always say if a marriage has been fixed, it should happen as scheduled, but other celebrations can be avoided." This is his way of explaining why daughter Sonam's wedding was held a little over two months after Sridevi's passing away.

A lot has happened this year for Kapoor personally and professionally. "It's been a busy one and I have been travelling a lot too. I was not in Mumbai during Diwali. We had a quiet celebration at Sonam's home in London." He has been zipping in and out of England as Sonam and husband Anand Ahuja have been based there for a while now. He flew in especially for the media interactions of Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle in which he has given the voice for Baloo, the bear, in the Hindi version of the film. The original has director-actor Andy Serkis lending his voice to the sloth bear, whose most challenging student is Mowgli, based on Rudyard Kipling's classic, The Jungle Book.

Kapoor recalls that he had done a voice-over in Mr India (1987) in which he played an invisible character. "So there was this sense of familiarity. I have also done a voice-over for the Mr India ride at the Imagica amusement park." However, lending his voice in an animation film was special. "It was a unique and fulfilling experience dubbing for Baloo. I had an opportunity to work with some great technicians during Slumdog Millionaire and Mission Impossible: The Ghost Protocol when I had dubbed for some portions. They gave me a great perspective to dubbing. I had a cold and cough during Mission. It was used and the gruff voice added a new dimension to it. I have used whatever I had learnt during the making of these two Hollywood films. I also added my interpretation to Baloo. You have to match every emotion and facial expressions to the animal."

Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle also sees him reuniting with Slumdog Millionaire co-actor Freida Pinto, who plays Mowgli's adoptive mother in the film. "My life has come full circle," he says. "Time has flown, it is 10 years since the release of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. We did the festival rounds before its release." It also took Kapoor to the Oscars and put India on the world map with several awards, including for composer A R Rahman. Kapoor terms those days as a "dream run" and led the way for his part in the Tom Cruise-starrer in 2011. It's well known that Boyle turned to Kapoor when other leading actors kept him waiting. The actor has several moments to cherish from his Hollywood outings. "I met a lot of people, a talented lot, which gave me a new dimension to my work."

On the Bollywood front, the actor was seen in Race 3 and Fanney Khan this year, both of which were panned by critics. Not one to be bogged down by damp squibs, Kapoor is now looking forward to his next, the comic caper Total Dhamaal, which has him reunite with Madhuri Dixit-Nene after a hiatus and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, which has Sonam as co-star. Total Dhamaal was slated to release this month but was postponed. "Now I have two releases in Februrary," he says. Both are special as he has an old bond with Dixit with whom he has given several hits and he teams up with Sonam in Ek Ladki... Though they are back-to-back, he will, tirelessly be part of the publicity blitzkrieg. Kapoor is always high on life and acting, he says, gives him the kick to keep going relentlessly.

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; November 30, 2018)

Freida Pinto has admittedly juggled different platforms — she’s done feature films, TV shows and will now be seen in Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle, which releases next week on Netflix. The actress, who was on a short trip to India, spoke to After Hrs about her role in the film and her plans of producing some Indian stories. Over to her...

Everyone has childhood memories attached to The Jungle Book. Is it the same for you?
Yeah, it’s the animation series, which almost every child in India has memories of. We always had the Sunday experience of watching The Jungle Book with siblings or mom and dad. For me, it’s been exactly the same. I kind of romanticised Sundays with my family because of this experience.

What was going through your mind when you were offered this part?
I was never offered it. I went ahead and demanded a role in the film (laughs). I wanted to be a part of this film and when I heard Andy (Serkis) is making it, I just asked him for it.

But no star would do that...
I’m not a star, I’m an actor.

You have a brief role in the film. Does the screen time matter to you?
It doesn’t really matter to me, as long as I know I’m adding value to the film. I’ve done all kind of roles — I’ve played the lead, supporting roles and even cameos. At the end of the day, if you feel fulfilled, then it doesn’t matter what somebody else thinks. I don’t care to read someone else’s opinion of what the length of my role should be, because it’s my choice and my decision.

Priyanka Chopra has also spoken about how unlike here, in the West, big actors come together to do brief parts, just for a film...
Yes, absolutely! I’ve heard several stories like that. I don’t remember having seen male superstars in India do that. When was the last time we have genuinely seen five heroes come together for a project? I can’t even think of one right now. But yes, to each his own. That’s what they believe they should be doing, but it’s not something I believe in, at all. So for me, it’s not about ‘am I being the centre of attention in the movie?’ No film is successful because of one person, it’s always team work.

Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle has been made only for the digital platform. What do you think of the newer avenues?
Streaming services have made things more available and accessible for the audience, too. Say something from Mexico can be watched by someone in India, and that accessibility has allowed the cultures to come together. The fact that I’ve American friends who watched Sacred Games, and loved it, proves the fact. The platform that these services provide is absolutely amazing because you can create a theatrical experience at home.

Expectations from this movie will be high given that its feature film version did exceedingly well...
I know The Jungle Book was outstandingly successful. But I have no fears for this film doing well at all, because it’s unique.

This is a dark retelling of the same story. Why opt for something so dramatic?
The Jungle Book has always been made as a slightly happier version. But if you really think about how animals are in the wild, or how a kid, who was adopted by a wolf pack and is trained by them, would behave, you will know that everything can’t be happy and perfect all the time. He will be wild and feral. I feel Andy did justice by really embracing that backdrop. More than just dark, it’s visceral and intense. You’ll be at the edge of your seats while watching this version.

Usually Indian actresses who foray into Hollywood are offered only exotic princess roles. Why do you think they are stereotyped?
It’s their job to refuse such roles if they don’t want to essay them. You can only end a certain stereotype by not giving into it. I don’t get exotic princess roles anymore because I have said no to them in the past. I might have got them right after Slumdog Millionaire (2008), but there’s a way to change that perception and mentality. And it takes a lot of courage, because saying no would mean you’re also refusing the work, money and opportunities. But personally, I don’t want to adhere to this stereotype.

You were also planning to produce an Indian story...
It’s not just one Indian story. There will be quite a few, actually. For me, it’s important to put the right teams together. One of my producing partners is Tabrez Noorani and we are putting together some stories which, I believe, will do well in India, too.

There were rumours that you are getting married to Cory Tran next year…
I believe everyone has reasons for doing whatever they are doing. So, they should be allowed to live and let live.

On his maiden trip to Mumbai, Christian Bale tells mid-day that there's no escaping Batman for him, but he doesn't mind it at all!
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; November 27, 2018)

Batman, as it were, entered Mumbai — possibly India's very own Gotham City — without making much of a show about it; and he quietly left last night, after attending the global premiere of Andy Serkis's Mowgli, set to stream on Netflix on December 7. We're referring to Christopher Nolan's Batman from the Dark Knight trilogy — actor Christian Bale, of course. And if we did initiate that tiring Delhi-Mumbai debate, about which surely Bale has no clue, the national capital would definitely win in his books.

For, he admits, as we meet for a brief one-on-chat at the JW Marriott, Juhu: "I've had no opportunity to be up and about [in Mumbai] at all. But I did bring over my family, and landed in Delhi five days ago. We did the 'golden triangle' — Jaipur, Agra. We had been to Rajasthan before — Jodhpur, in 2011 — when we came here for The Dark Knight Rises."

It is however Mumbai, showbiz-central, where the impact of his immeasurably wide body of work is most likely to be felt. We bring up one of Bollywood's youngest super-stars, Varun Dhawan, as an instance. Dhawan had revealed to us not long ago that a moment of epiphany — when he felt wholly drawn towards seriously taking up acting as a profession — occurred to him, during college, when he was first blown away by Bale as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000).

Does he receive these sorts of compliments in unlikeliest corners, when he travels especially? "I have to say, it's one of the first times I've heard that (laughs). I hope that he [Dhawan] is enjoying himself. I hope I'm not responsible for [something he] regrets." Touching upon another indelible influence of his work in B-Town, we bring up Dhoom 3 (2013) — one of the biggest, local box-office successes of all time — which was undoubtedly a nod to (if not partly plagiarised from) the Bale-starrer, Prestige (2006). Has he at least come across such instances before? "No, it's lovely to hear that, though. Maybe I'm just oblivious to it. But it sounds rewarding," Bale says.

You can sense that this calm/casual indifference towards public appeal is very much part of Bale's intrinsic personality, rather than a put-on for the press. Delving deeper into this aspect, and how that seamlessly flows into his craft, he says, "I definitely find that staying somewhat oblivious helps me as an actor. One inanimate example of that is I've chosen not to learn too much about camera lenses. Many actors I work with, and respect immensely, will always ask [about lenses] to understand how close the camera is. I never ask any of that. I don't care. To me, film acting is the same, regardless. You perform truthfully."

He adds, "What [checking out the frame] would do is actually make me too aware of the incredible job the camera-people are doing, which could be intimidating [during a performance]. So, being in denial [of camera, lights, crew] is very much a part of what acting is about." Bale's latest release though, live-action wizard Serkis's Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle, would've had him dig into an altogether another skill-set, given it's a motion-capture pic that, unlike simply voicing for animation, merges an actor's face and performance, with the computer-generated image, so the black panther on screen is as much as Bagheera, as it is Bale himself!


Christian Bale in The Dark Knight

Over a career spanning 32 years, Bale, 44, who's been nominated for the Oscars thrice (for American Hustle, The Big Short), won once (for The Fighter), has been rightly lauded as a strikingly strong exponent of the 'method' school of acting — in line with Robert De Niro in the '70s—physically, mentally, wholly transforming himself into rather intense roles. Did playing Bagheera in Mowgli seem a relatively more relaxed, down-time for him then? "It's a different level of intensity, because it's sporadic. Usually with a feature film, [once] you start, you know you're going to perform the character for months, and then it would finish. With this [Mowgli], we started it when my son was two months old. He's now four. We would revisit [the role], go back once a year in the room, re-do portions after the principal photography in the actual locations was done."

Given that Bagheera roams around jungles with an Indian village settlement nearby (in keeping with Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book), to mercilessly push the analogy, the role of the desi leopard might be the closest Bale's come to playing a desi character, if you may. Either way, if there's a part that he's likely to be associated with, regardless of where he's in the world, Bale admits, "It'll always be Batman. And I'm proud of that. It'll always be the most iconic, and probably the most successful series of films, that I'll ever make. I recognise that. Chris [Nolan] and I are fortunate to have gone on to make three of them. Therefore, it's lovely when people do talk about it. But it's also equally rewarding, when people mention [my] other films."

Of course, there's a whole lot more!

Abhishek Bachchan reveals he lent his voice to Bagheera in Mowgli since daughter is a fan of The Jungle Book
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; November 26, 2018)

The dubbed Hindi version of Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle boasts a stellar voice cast, including Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit Nene. Bachchan, who brings Bagheera to life in the motion capture film, reveals that it was a purely emotional decision.

"I wanted to do the film for Aaradhya. When I told her that I'm playing Bagheera, she was thrilled. She has not seen all our films; she loves to read and is busy with her books. But I am keen to show her this movie," he says. Joyous that his seven-year-old child has inherited his love for the Rudyard Kipling classic, he adds, "I have grown up on The Jungle Book, and now my daughter is also a part of it."

The actor describes his first attempt at dubbing for an animation film as a "creatively satisfying" process. On the Hindi film front, he has wrapped up the shoot of Anurag Basu's next. Interestingly, the actor can be seen sporting a clean-shaven look these days. "I feel naked," quips Bachchan, who sported facial fuzz for the past six years. "I am facing withdrawal symptoms. Guys with beards tend to fidget with it. I, too, keep touching my face out of habit, only to realise that there is nothing. It is barren," he laughs.

Madhuri Dixit on how the character she voices in Mowgli has the same name as her Hum Aapke Hain Koun avatar
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; November 21, 2018)

In her first endeavour as a voice-over artiste, Madhuri Dixit-Nene will bring to life the character of Nisha — the wolf mother of Mowgli — in the Hindi version of Andy Serkis' Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle. Interestingly, the most memorable character in Dixit's filmography shared the same name — the actor played Nisha in Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994).

Excited as she is about life coming a full circle for her, Dixit says she is all the more glad to explore a new facet of her craft. "It's an amazing experience to bring a character to life by just using their voice. I watch a lot of VFX-rich movies with my sons," says the actor.

She adds that Arin and Ryan have been fans of the The Jungle Book series and have watched the multiple renditions. "I have always wanted to lend my voice to mysterious characters. I'm thrilled to finally get a chance to do so in Mowgli. To top it all, when I told Ryan about it, he got excited and said, 'That's so cool, mom!' His reaction totally made my day."