Looking through dense forest

After Siya, Manish Mundra on showcasing India’s wildlife with his next, Real Jungle Book

After dabbling in films for eight years as a producer, Manish Mundra turned director with Siya in 2022. “The response has motivated me to direct more in the future,” says the filmmaker, who has previously produced Masaan (2015),  Dhanak (2016), and Newton (2017), among others. 

Mundra’s banner, Drishyam Films, is already working on its next slate of movies. “We have wrapped up a documentary on tigers. We are shooting a social comedy with Ashwin Shetty as the director. Our first international film will roll out this October, and we had also commissioned a wildlife film that was shot over three years,” says the producer of the film, titled Real Jungle Book.

Mundra claims the idea of adapting popular characters like Mowgli, Bagheera, and Baloo, among others, from Rudyard Kipling’s collective works is to “bring India back on the wildlife tourism map of the world”.

“India is the only place in the world where we have all these animals. We shot across Indian forests. Our film is a different take on [The Jungle Book]. It is not animation. This is about real life in the forests.” Directed by Jeremy Hogarth, the film will be narrated from Mowgli and Bagheera’s perspectives. 

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