Screengrab taken from YouTube video posted by UTV Motion Pictures
April 8 cannot come soon enough for fans desperately waiting for the release of Jon Favreau-directed
The Jungle Book. However, this little treat courtesy UTV Motion Pictures may just make the wait more tolerable for those of us who grew up in Doordarshan-era India.
You probably already know that Disney India has roped in actors Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan, Nana Patekar, Om Puri, and Shefali Shah for the dubbed version of the film. You may have already seen the trailers a couple dozen times. But there's an even better surprise waiting for you now -
jungle jungle phir se baat chali hai.Lyricist Gulzar has collaborated with filmmaker-composer Vishal Bhardwaj to update
Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai, the title song he wrote for the nineties TV version of
The Jungle Book. This brand new version of a favourite childhood ditty is pretty much an awesome time machine that's going to transport you back to when you lived from Sunday to Sunday, waiting to catch Mowgli and gang.
The new version has been sung by Jia Wadkar, Yuvika Chaudhury, Abhirup Dass, Vatsala Mishra, Shaksham Karia, Rashi Salil Harmalkar, Avishkar Yogesh Khot and Oushnik Majumdar. The video even shows the little singers recording the song with Gulzar saab and Mr Bhardwaj, along with stills and clips from the upcoming film. It's impossible not to smile, even get goosebumps watching and listening to this track.
People like actresses Anushka Sharma and Hansika Motvani are already among those on Twitter who are flipping out over the new version of the song, which ends with a dialogue from Irrfan Khan as Baloo.
Listen to the track below: