NARRATIVE - The New Jungle Books
Narrative Series
Title: The New Jungle Books
Page Count: 51 pp
Project Status: Completed
Logline
A series of interweaving stories following a young woman and her "Big Brother", an Asiatic black bear, in search for her estranged father in a utopian city. Their adventures interweave with a detective and his wolf partner; as well as an old man in his last days with a new animal friend.
Synopsis
My project The New Jungle Books imagines a "what-if" setting that takes off from the basic premise of Kipling's stories - about a boy that can talk to animals. It ponders how that boy grows up in a world that transitions from colonial rule to independence; how the wisdom he gained from the Jungles of India is studied, taught, perpetuated and exploited.
The series opens by showing how this world came to be. It tells a set of interweaving stories, mixing urban adventure, mystery, fables, and horror.
The plot at the center follows a young woman and her "Big Brother", a Asiatic black bear, as they search for her estranged father in an Indo-futuristic city. On their journey they are aided by a celebrated detective and his wolf partner, legends in their own way.
In parallel we see the story of an old man in a retirement home. Depressed and alone he volunteers to have an animal support partner - a langur.
While their stories play out, a celebration is taking place all over - meant to honor the figureheads of the utopian city - the great-great-great descendant of Mowgli and his animal partner, an old tiger. But, when a grisly killing takes place with the whole world watching, it unravels the delicate fabric holding this modern jungle intact, and interrogates the laws that failed to guide it.
Seeking
Producing Partners; Representation
Contact
Raghavendra Rayadurg
rayadurgr@gmail.com