This is *The Jungle Book* reinvented for 2016, by a director who knows just how to mix the heavy blows with the light touch. It’s a little more reminiscent of the jungle and the book than the 1967 Disney classic, a lot, lot darker, and yet, ultimately, as exuberant, with a surprisingly strong and novel message at its heart, in a story that already didn’t lack them.
There is no ‘boy being found in a basket, on a boat’ stuff here. We meet Mowgli ***(Neel Sethi)*** when already 10 and already finding himself struggling with the wolf life. While his wolf pack is as accommodating as ever, a “water truce” called due to a drought – bringing all the animals together, in peace, to a sole watering hole – brings him to the attention of the other animals in the jungle. Most are just curious, but **=Shere Khan(Idris Elba)=** is furious.(Also read: The Jungle Book director *Jon Favreau* gets taste of Indian cuisine).