'Mowgli' explores colonialism, misappropriation of jungles: Andy Serkis

Director Andy Serkis says his iteration of "The Jungle Book", which is significantly darker than the earlier retellings of Rudyard Kipling's classic, deals with identity, colonialism and misappropriation of jungles.

Though "Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle", was not shot in India, Serkis said he has stayed true to the story's Indian roots.

"In the book, there is a mention that when men come, there are brown men with drums and white men with guns. That for me is a very significant; small but very important passage that formed how we were going to set up different societies in 'The Jungle Book' storytelling," Serkis said while responding to a question posed by PTI at Netflix's "See What's Next: Asia" event here.

"Within the realms of magic realism and a metaphorical language, we are looking at the misappropriation of the jungles and man enters and there is expansion and colonialism and taking over the jungle The metaphor of that..."
"Well, I can't tell you what's happening. The film will be seen in India. I'm not sure if I can release the timings. But there will be very significant moment where this film begins its life in India."
"The cast came through because of the script. They loved the story, particularly the way the script was adapted... It is an emotional journey and is rooted in the search for identity. The cast really responded to the underlined themes of the script, the fact that we live in a world that is challenged by identities. It is a very important topic at the moment."