Bagheera
| Bagheera | |
|---|---|
| The Jungle Book character | |
 Bagheera and Mowgli, as shown in the 1895 edition of The Two Jungle Books | |
| First appearance | "Mowgli's Brothers" |
| Last appearance | "The Spring Running" |
| Created by | Rudyard Kipling |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Baggy |
| Species | Black panther (black Indian leopard) |
| Gender | Male |
| Relatives | Two parents (deceased) |
Bagheera (Hindi: बघीरा / Baghīrā) is a black panther (black Indian leopard) who is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book (coll. 1894) and The Second Jungle Book (coll. 1895). The word bāgha (Hindi: बाघ) means "tiger" in Hindi.
"Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody dared to cross his path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than dawn."
Character history
Born in captivity in the menagerie of the Rajah of Oodeypore, India, Bagheera begins to plan for his freedom after his mother dies. Once he is mature and strong enough, he breaks the lock on his cage and escapes into the jungle, where his ferocity and cunning nature win him the respect of all its other inhabitants, except Shere Khan the tiger (likely out of his arrogance). Bagheera reveals all this to Mowgli later. None but Mowgli ever learn that Bagheera once wore a collar and chain, explaining the cat's special insight concerning men.
When Father Wolf and Mother Wolf of the Seeonee (Seoni) wolf pack adopt the human "cub" Mowgli and the pack demands that the new cub should be spoken for, Bagheera buys Mowgli's life with a freshly killed bull and helps to raise him as one of the pack. Because his life has been bought by a bull, Mowgli is forbidden to eat cattle (coincidentally, just as the Hindu villagers of the region are also forbidden).
Bagheera shares in many of Mowgli's adventures as he grows, but eventually the time comes when the man-cub becomes a man and has to return to human society. Bagheera frees Mowgli of his debt to the wolf pack by killing another bull, and Mowgli returns to his adopted human mother Messua.
Bagheera is one of Mowgli's mentors and best friends. He, Baloo and Kaa sing for Mowgli "The Outsong" of the jungle.
Media portrayals
In film
In some film and television series adaptations of the Jungle Book Bagheera is a Indian leopard. In other appearances, he has a black pigmentation, which is why he is commonly referred to as a black panther.
In the animated Soviet version, Adventures of Mowgli, Bagheera is portrayed as a female. This may be related to the fact that the Russian word for "panther" is a feminine noun, and a name ending with 'a' is considered to be a female name in the Russian language (a male panther would have been named Bagheer). An episode shows she has three cubs, one black and two yellow with rosette patterns. Bagheera is portrayed as friendly, loyal, trustworthy, and protective, yet somewhat cunning and tricky.
Disney animated version
In Disney's 1967 animated adaptation, Bagheera the panther is, as in the book, male, and voiced by Sebastian Cabot (who previously voiced Sir Ector from The Sword in the Stone). The panther is portrayed as an intelligent, mature, and logical character, quite similar to the Bagheera in the novel, except that in the novel, Bagheera spoiled Mowgli more. In the film, it is Bagheera and not the wolves who first finds Mowgli, a young village child, and he is the one who takes him back to the village. During the movie, Bagheera often lectures Baloo, for he knows that as long as Shere Khan is in the jungle, the jungle is not safe for Mowgli despite all of Baloo's attempts to protect him. Bagheera is also the narrator of the movie's story.
Bagheera is also one of the major characters left out of the TaleSpin series which used several Jungle Book characters. However, many of Shere Khan's employees and military personnel are black panthers very similar in appearance to Bagheera.
In the prequel cartoon series, Bagheera was voiced by Elizabeth Daily and Dee Bradley Baker, and was often made fun of by his friends, especially the bully Shere Khan. He is also called "Baggy" as Baloo did in their adulthood. Like Shere Khan, he too has a British accent in the 1967 film, but has an American accent in this series.
In the second film, he is voiced by Bob Joles and reappears as the mature Bagheera. He, with the help of Colonel Hathi's troops tries to prevent Baloo from reaching the man village. When the villagers try to find Mowgli, he suspects that Baloo has brought him back (he is right). Baloo hides Mowgli from Bagheera and convinces him that he is not with him, although he doesn't entirely buy it. After Shere Khan is trapped, Mowgli meets him again and Mowgli introduces Bagheera to Shanti the girl who's Mowgli's best friend at the village. Near the end of the film, Mowgli's younger adoptive brother Ranjan is shown playing with Bagheera's tail. At first Bagheera is scared, but later enjoys playing with him, while Mowgli, Shanti, and Baloo sing the reprise of "The Bare Necessities".
1994 Disney live-action film
In the 1994 live-action film, Bagheera serves a jungle animal friend to Mowgli and his pet wolf, Grey Brother. After Mowgli and Grey Brother are separated from civilization, Bagheera finds them the next day. Hearing Shere Khan's roar from a distance, Bagheera signals with his tail to Mowgli to grab on to it so as to lead him out of harm's way. It takes a while until Bagheera finally brings Mowgli and Grey Brother to a pack of Grey Indian wolves. Seeing as the child is young, friendly, helpless, harmless, and kind to a cub of their species, the wolves accept them as members of the pack, much to Bagheera's delight.
Years later, Bagheera is seen most of the time spending time on a tree not doing much and sometimes running with a fully-grown Mowgli, Grey Brother, a new friend named Baloo the brown bear, who is saved as a cub by Mowgli on the day Mowgli is accepted into the pack, and the wolf pack.
A few days later, after Mowgli has learned the ways of men and re-entered civilization thanks to Katherine "Kitty" Brydon and Dr. Julius Plumford, Bagheera is seen being caressed and introduced to Kitty by Mowgli along with all the rest of Mowgli's jungle animal friends. Bagheera and the other animals watch as Kitty teaches Mowgli some dancing lessons, much to their amusement.
In a later tussle against soldiers working for Captain Boone, Baloo is shot and left for dead. Bagheera is then seen running with Mowgli and the wolf pack to locate Dr. Julius Plumford to save Baloo's life, only to find that the doctor has already left with Kitty and her father, Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, to bring Katherine to the ship to England. Mowgli goes out and follows them with the wolves and Bagheera behind. After saving Dr. Plumford from death, Bagheera is seen charging along with the wolf pack against Indian bandits. Dr. Plumford is then taken by Mowgli to save Baloo's life.
After Mowgli is captured by evil British soldiers—Boone, Lt. Wilkins, and Sergeant Harley—and the remaining Indian bandits—Buldeo and Tabaqui—Bagheera is seen with the wolves keeping an eye on Mowgli, his friends, and enemies while staring at Boone and Wilkins mostly. When Wilkins asks himself why Bagheera is staring at them, Mowgli replies, "Because to him, you are food." A reply is hinted afterwards when Bagheera sticks out his tongue to show his hunger for them. The next morning, Bagheera is seen biting through the ropes tying Mowgli to a tree, thus allowing him to escape, and then later on, to rescue the left-out injured Colonel Brydon from death.
In the final scene, after Boone's defeat, Bagheera is seen crossing a bridge with Kitty and a triumphant Mowgli while reuniting with the British Army sent out by Colonel Brydon, who is successfully cured from his injuries by Dr. Plumford (who also manages to cure Baloo), to find them.
2016 Disney live-action film
Ben Kingsley voices the CG character in the 2016 live-action film.[1] In an interview with Ben Kingsley regarding his portrayal of Bagheera, Kingsley describes Bagheera as Mowgli's adoptive parent, saying that his role in Mowgli's life is "to educate, to protect and to guide". Kingsley further describes Bagheera as being analogous to military in his personality, specifically a Colonel; saying that "he's instantly recognizable by the way that he talks, how he acts, and what his ethical code is".[2]
In this film, Bagheera plays the role as Mowgli's mentor and rescues him after Shere Khan kills the boy's father. He is continually protecting Mowgli and teaches him to be a creature of the jungle and a member of the wolf pack led by Akela. When Shere Khan threatens Mowgli's life, Bagheera agrees to guide him to the man-village where he can safely live with other humans. However, en route, Shere Khan ambushes them. Bagheera fights with Shere Khan and though he is beaten and mildly injured by the tiger, he gives Mowgli enough time to escape. They do not reunite again until much later, when Mowgli is helping Baloo gather honey (in repayment for Baloo saving him from the python, Kaa) and announces he wishes to stay with Baloo, much to Bagheera's disappointment. Bagheera later speaks with Baloo and after explaining the boy's predicament, tells Baloo to lie to Mowgli and tell him they were never friends so as to ensure he ends up living in the man-village. However, before this plan can be implemented, a group of monkeys led by the Bornean orangutan-resembling Gigantopithecus King Louie, abduct Mowgli to try and learn of the secret of fire. Working together, Bagheera and Baloo fight off the monkeys long enough for Mowgli to hide from King Louie, and the resulting chase results in the ape king's presumed demise. After word of the death of Akela by Shere Khan's hand reaches Mowgli, the boy is furious with Bagheera and Baloo for keeping the news from him. He then runs away and steals a burning torch from the man-village (accidentally starting a forest fire in the process), and returns to the jungle to avenge Akela. Bagheera helps Baloo and the wolf pack fight Shere Khan long enough to allow Mowgli to set a trap for the tiger, which allows Mowgli to lure him over a fiery pit into which he falls to his death. After, Bagheera is last seen sitting with Baloo and Mowgli, who has found his true home in the jungle.
Reception
The portrayal of Bagheera as well as Ben Kingsley's voice acting were praised in the 2016 film. Rotten Tomatoes top critic James Berardinelli stated: "Ben Kingsley brings the appropriate level of gravitas to the strait-laced Bagheera".[3][4] Todd VanDerWerff from Vox gave Bagheera the top spot on a ranking of all the talking animals from the film from best to worst stating: "By the very nature of the story, Bagheera has to be sidelined for a time — so that Mowgli is forced to confront the dangers of the jungle alone — but this version of the tale really made me feel the cat's absence. That's a good sign" "-any iteration of The Jungle Book is only as good as its Bagheera. He's the concerned parent, worried about what his child will find around the next corner, the big cat who knows he has to let go just a little but can't find it in himself to do so".[5]
Other media
In the song "Bagheera" by Blues Traveler, he is depicted with blood-stained fur drinking at the bar, counseling a young man-cub about his choice to live as man or as a free creature. He remembers when he was in the midst of his decision to live with the world of Man or to return to the jungle and be free. The line says "some say if you could have seen him then, you would have noticed a tear fall from his majestic eye."
In the comic book series Fables, Bagheera appears as one of the characters living in exile on the Farm in upstate New York. He participates in the farm uprising and, along with the other "Kipling" fables, he assists Goldilocks in tracking down Reynard the Fox. Bagheera actually succeeds in tracking down Reynard, though the Fox manages to escape from him. It is implied that Bagheera's primary motivation for capturing the Fox is to show up Shere Khan after Khan arrogantly rejects Bagheera's offer of help. After the uprising is defeated, a remorseful Bagheera agrees to imprisonment rather than forced labor. However, as he reveals to Mowgli, he has the memory of urinating on the deceased Shere Khan's grave to amuse himself.
In the 1998 film The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, Bagheera is portrayed as a female, voiced by Eartha Kitt.
A Swedish play version of The Jungle Book spoofed the confusion of Bagheera's sex in the media by portraying him as a transvestite.
In the Hungarian play version Bagheera is yet again a female panther. Her main role is bribing the wolf pack with a bull, so they accept Mowgli as Akela's cub, teaching Mowgli with Baloo about the Rules of the Jungle, and advising him throughout the play.
In the upcoming 2018 film, Christian Bale will voice Bagheera.
See also
References
- ↑ "Ben Kingsley to Voice Bagheera in Disney's The Jungle Book". Deadline. June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
- ↑ http://uptownmagazine.com/2016/03/first-look-lupita-nyongo-idris-elba-others-in-the-jungle-book/6/
- ↑ Berardinelli, James. "Jungle Book, The (United States, 2016)". ReelViews. James Berardinelli. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- ↑ "THE JUNGLE BOOK REVIEWS". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd. "The Jungle Book review: all of the talking animals, ranked". Vox. Vox Media. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
External links
Media related to Bagheera at Wikimedia Commons