'The Jungle Book' mints over Rs 20 crore on opening weekend

Filmmaker Jon Favreau's 3D live-animation adventure fantasy film 'The Jungle Book' has received an overwhelming response at the box office in India and raked in over Rs.20 crore in just two days since its release.

The film, which collected Rs.10.09 crore on its opening day in India on Friday, witnessed good growth on Saturday by collecting Rs.13.51 crore, thus taking its cumulative total to Rs.23.6 crore, read a statement.

The film is releasing in India on April 8, a week ahead of its U.S. debut, to pay tribute to the Indian environment of the film/novel.

Released in India in four different languages (English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu), the film brings a story straight from the enchanting forest of India and presents a modern take on Rudyard Kipling's timeless classic, originally published in 1894.

The film, with Indian-American actor Neel Sethi as Mowgli, made its way onto the screens in India a week ahead of its release in the US.

Along with Neel, the film is supported by Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson and Christopher Walken.

Bollywood stars likes Irrfan Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Nana Patekar, Shefali Shah and Om Puri have lent their voice for the Hindi version of “The Jungle Book”.

The film is now expected to witness a good growth on Sunday, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh.


“'The Jungle Book' is eyeing Rs.38 crore to Rs.40 crore in its opening weekend, which clearly indicates the love it is getting from moviegoers,” Adarsh posted on Twitter.

What Indians Are Really Saying About Disney's 'The Jungle Book'

Here’s what they’re saying: they love it.

The numbers are in. We all have read about them by now. Despite the weak rupee, Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ is a rip-roaring success in India. It’s brought in around 100 million rupees — not a lot in dollar terms, but enough to make it the best Hollywood film to launch in India in 2016.

The 121 year old Rudyard Kipling short story collection about an orphaned tribal Indian boy raised by a pack of wolves might have been written by the ex-pat British colonial in Vermont, but its soul remains in the real jungles of Madhya Pradesh, on which Kipling based his Mowgli stories. While Americans love the Disneyfication of Kipling’s Mowgli and his friends, Indians consider the character a native son.

“We are all dying to see this movie,” says Vimal Jain, a 62 year old entrepreneur from Raipur, a mid-sized city hundreds of miles away from the Kanha National forest where Mowgli’s stories took place.  “People around the world associate Mowgli with this Disney or Kipling. We associate him with our childhood; with India and with our wildlife,” he says.

In Calicut, Kreala, 35 year old anesthesiologist Roshan Radharkishnan said he felt like a kid again after seeing the movie on Sunday.  ”This is being sold as a Disney movie for kids but here in India the crowds are predominantly adults,” he said, leaving Crown Theater. “You got just enough nods from the director and the writers to let you know that they cared about your childhood memories of the Disney film, too,” he said.

The film opened nationwide on Friday. Disney releases it in the U.S. on April 15.
Some Indians preferred to watch the movie in English instead of Hindi. Nairita Ghosh, 28, said the character voices were spot-on.

“Neel Sethi is brilliant as Mowgli,” she said of the 12 year old Indian kid from New York who started work as the only person in the movie when he was only 10. “You see his innocence and his fierce love of his animal family play out on screen. The theater was packed,” she said after leaving the High Street Phoenix mall in Mumbai. “Even with adults dominating the room you could hear their screams when Shere Khan leaped out of the screen. And then there’d be these sighs of agreement when Mowgli would get his lessons from Bageera and laughs at Baloo and his eternal quest for honey. It’s a must see.”

Disney’s successful weekend in India bodes well for the upcoming weekend release in the States.
“We did not want to make the Indian audience wait to watch the film because it is of Indian origin and has a strong resonance with the audience here,” said Amrita Pandey, vice president–studios, Disney India. April 8 is also a lucrative release date because it is the Hindu New Year and was a holiday in most parts in Maharashtra state, home of Mumbai. Schools are also letting out soon for summer vacations.

Disney’s “The Jungle Book” was written by Justin Marks and directed by Jon Favreau. Other than Sethi, it stars voice actors Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bageera and Idris Elba as the voice of Shere Khan the tiger.