The Jungle Book is not a wild Kipling dream but has a subtext of political allegory. While Burroughs’ slightly raw though vivid approach can be seen as racist and sexist in the 21st century, it is hard to knock down Kipling’s man-cub since he did crave for a Utopian world that is almost Zionist in its setting. If the original Kipling is a dark journey, Walt Disney’s adaptation makes it lighthearted and apparently exuberant.

“There have been several re-readings of Disney’s characters and creations. One often wonders how seriously to take these writings. However, his adaptatiton of Kipling’s classic has resulted in a more popular set of clichés than the book itself,” says M Jayashankar, a visiting professor at Mumbai’s Nirmala Niketan.

Both the ‘bad guys’ in Disney’s The Jungle Book are quintessential representation of exotic India. While Kha, the python, has the ability to be hypnotic and mysterious with a knowledge of tantra and several humorous references to the Great Indian Rope Trick, Sher Khan, the tiger, is another Indian cliché replete with dark powers that originate from the Orient, a symbol of preternatural potency and power.

Art critic John Berger, in his critique on Disney, points out that the late animations icon plays up the spectacle of zoos and by attributing human qualities to them, Disney actually moves away from the real characters and creates popular myths around them.

Ajit Rao, an Indian animator who is working on a graphic novel on the Ajanta caves, is exploring Indianness in animation and folklore. “Our own knowledge of Indian folklore is scant. Most of our exposure is through western eyes. So is our own understanding Indianised or westernised?” asks Rao.