Junglee is making headlines. The movie is in news as it is directed by Hollywood director, Chuck Russell. He is excited about his debut and shared he always wanted to be a part of Bollywood. He further shared, “(I felt) It should not be told with western actors. This is about the relationship between a man and an elephant and it is in the Indian DNA for centuries. I was comfortable with it being an Indian story. At first, I did not know why they approached me for this film but I realised it was because I am always dealing with the human and animal relationship angle in my films.” The movie moves around an interesting plot about human and animal relationship.
He shared about his love and fascination for Bollywood, “I was jealous of Indian directors when I first discovered Indian films. As a teenager, I found you guys do song and dance in every or any genre. In the West, the musicals were very limited. There are many differences but we (both) can tell larger-than-life stories and our stars can carry it.” Talking about the lead actor, Vidyut Jammwal, he expressed details about the character, “I created this character for him. He has a fun, vulnerable side to him that was good to explore. These men and women are brave who do action-acting.”
The Mask director is not aloof from Bollywood, he loves watching Indian movies. He watched 3 Idiots, Sultan, Baahubali, Raazi and Bareilly Ki Barfi. “My mother loved India very much, she passed away just as we started work on the ‘Junglee’. She was a travel agent. I am carrying on the tradition of my family,” Russell added.
The star cast includes Vidyut Jammwal, Pooja Sawant, Asha Bhat, Makarand Deshpande, Atul Kulkarni and Akshay Oberoi. The movie releases on 29th March 2019.
