Jungle Book gets U/A rating; invites ridicule from all and sundry
The chairman of the Indian Central Board of Film Certification, Pahlaj Nihalani has given a U/A rating to The Jungle Book, who said the movie was too 'scary'. The U/A rating is awarded to movies which contain "mild violence, language and sensuality and is unsuitable for children under 12." The Censor Boards' decision invited ridicule from the film industry and social media.
The Jungle Book movie originally came out as an animated movie in 1967 produced by Walt Disney and directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. It featured several famous personalities like "Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders and Louis Prima" etc.
The American fantasy movie Jungle Book is based on Rudyard Kipling's book by the same name. The movie is being produced by Walt Disney and directed by Jon Favreau. The film will be released in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D formats. Pre-release tracking has hinted that the movie will open around $60–70 million in the US and Canada alone.
The movie revolves around the story of Mowgli who is a human child brought up in the jungle and depicts his friendship with Bagheera (panther) and Baloo (bear). The friends try to make Mowgli leave the jungle before the villain Sher Khan kills him.
While the movie was announced in November 2013, it took Walt Disney a year to finalise its cast. The movie stars American-Indian child actor Neel Sethi as Mowgli who was chosen from 1000s of children. Idris Elba was cast as Sher Khan the tiger, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera the panther, and Bill Murray as Baloo the bear, and Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha the mother-wolf.
The movie will also feature Scarlett Johansson essaying the role of Kaa, the Python. The original Kaa was a male character however Favreau felt the original film was "a little too male-oriented".
Jungle Book which is set to release on 8 April in India will feature many famous Indian actors. Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra, Nana Patekar, Irrfan Khan, Om Puri and Shefali Shah are lending their voice to Jungle Book's Hindi version. The Hindi version of the Jungle Book song too will get a face-lift as Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar join forces after a 23-year interlude.
