Netflix has announced the release date for its much-awaited take on the famed Jungle Book franchise. Mowgli will be available to Netflix’s 137 million subscribers across the world on December 7. The film’s director, Andy Serkis made the announcement at Netflix APAC Slate 2018, in Singapore.

Unlike previous Jungle Book films, Netflix’s version, Serkis says will be more emotional and deal with heavy subjects like alienation and belonging. “We can’t tell this story without acknowledging its India connection,” said Serkis, speaking at the convention, “It deals with belonging and colonialism. There’s the white hunter coming into India, and he’s also a man coming in and occupying the jungle.”

The film’s titular character, Mowgli, also has multiple layers in its latest version. “Mowgli is himself an outsider to the jungle, and has to contend with his sense of belonging,” said Serkis, “Rudyard Kipling (author of The Jungle Book) understood being dislodged, from a very personal space. He was a Hindi-speaker, who studied in England. That’s probably why the book is darker than everybody’s perception.”

Mowgli’s makers claim that the film has the largest-ever A-list cast playing performance capture roles. With names like Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Freida Pinto, among others, Serkis said that the star cast was willing to step outside their comfort zone, while acting. “We first shot the entire cast on a performance capture stage,” he said, “We then shot the scenes for Mowgli, separately.”

The film has taken about two years to fine-tune its novel performance-capture method and was filmed in South African jungles that served as its Indian setting.

First Published:Nov 8, 2018 11:31 PM IST