Hindustan Times 1996
Jungle Book Se Aage currently being staged at India Habitat Centre till May 8 is a culmination of an extensive workshop organised with the motive of having fun on the stage.
This innovative musical spoof begins from where Kipling left Mowgli in the Jungle Book. His girl Asha asks if he wanted to see life, adventure' and thrill which leads to their boarding a train till the Delhi metropolis and from this point begins an impromptu interaction between 'the Mowgli of' then' and 'the civilised world of now'.
Mowgli and Asha experience a series of adventures associated with urban life but to the boy tamed by a wild hand these civilised ways appear to be bewildering, senseless and aimless. It denotes the transition from the harmony of the jungle to an urban nerve centre. He encounters a thanedar (custodian of justice) who inspite of being big and burly keeps bursting into water-works and then there are the members of Mahila Samiti who mechanically chant 'Bade Chalo' but arc themselves without any direction. The play ends by underlining a note of thought in the minds of the audiences that are we really civilised?
Director's Bubbles Sabharwal and Lushin Dubey have shaped the raw talent of nearly fifty children from different schools falling in the age group of 13-15 years in this project which promised to be an instant hit with kids.