''Delhi Safari'' (also known as ''Jungle Safari'') is a 2012 Indian computer-animated

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by

Nikkhil Advani Nikhil Suresh Advani (born 28 April 1971) is an Indian film and television director, writer and producer who works in Hindi cinema. He along with his sister, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani, co-founded the entertainment company Emmay Enterta ...

. The film traces the journey of five animals from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

as they struggle against an oppressive regime. It has been produced by Krayon Pictures (a Pune-based 3D animation studio). Based on a story and concept by Advani, the film's

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language version features the voices of

Akshaye Khanna Akshaye Khanna (born 28 March 1975) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the son of actor Vinod Khanna. He has won numerous awards in his career including two Filmfare Awards, three Screen Awards and two IIFA Awards in varied ac ...

Govinda Govinda (), also rendered Govind and Gobind, is an epithet of Vishnu which is also used for his avatars such as Krishna. The name appears as the 187th and the 539th name of Vishnu in '' Vishnu Sahasranama''. The name is also popularly addresse ...

Suniel Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and kannada films. In a ca ...

Boman Irani Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor, photographer and voice artist who works predominantly in Hindi cinema he has also worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. He has acted in more than a 100 films in his career. Ear ...

and

Urmila Matondkar Urmila Matondkar (born 4 February 1974) is an Indian actress and politician. Known for her work primarily in Hindi films, in addition to Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi and Tamil films, she has received numerous accolades, including the Filmfare A ...

. The screenplay of the film is written by Girish Dhamija and Suresh Nair. The music of the film is composed by

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst t ...

, while the lyrics are penned by

Sameer Samir (variantly spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. In Arabic, Samir () means holy, jovial, loyal or charming. In Albanian, it translates literally as “so good” but the connotation is clo ...

. It is India's first stereoscopic 3D animation feature film. The film released in India on 19 October 2012. Delhi Safari has been granted exemption from

entertainment tax Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have dev ...

in the states of Maharashtra and Delhi. At the

60th National Film Awards The 60th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2012 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2013 and was host ...

, it won the

National Film Award for Best Animated Film The National Film Award for Best Animated Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards p ...

. The English-language version of the film has voices by

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in ''R ...

Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on ''Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' Se ...

Cary Elwes Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (; born 26 October 1962) is an English actor and writer. He is known for his leading film roles as Westley in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), Robin Hood in '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' (1993), and Dr. Lawrence Gordon in ...

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as ''The New Batman Adventures ...

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recogni ...

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She resigne ...

and

Brad Garrett Bradley Henry Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and ...

. The international sales of the film is being handled by Fantastic Films International. The film was released in the United States on 7 December 2012.

Plot

The film starts with Yuvraj (or 'Yuvi', for short) saying that he lost his father, Sultan in the morning, but doesn't want to lose his home at any cost. The film carries a flashback of the morning with Yuvi and Sultan playing in the forest and Sultan teaching self-defence to Yuvi while his mother, Begum, enters. The two mock her for her overly caring attitude towards son that gets her angry and she leaves. Soon, Begum forgives Sultan and Yuvraj. However, while coming back, a whole pack of bulldozers come from nowhere and proceed to demolish the surrounding jungle. Begum manages to escape, but Yuvi and Sultan are trapped. The two land at a site in the forest where they see all the trees missing. In a bid to save Yuvi, Sultan catches Yuvi in his mouth and tosses him to Begum. However, he himself is killed by a human wielding a shotgun, making the whole forest a large enemy of the humans. A talk happens with attendants of all the animals in the area. Many believe that leaving their homes is the only way to survive; however, Bajrangi, a monkey, says that he would beat out the wits of those men with his so-called ''"vanarsena"'' - Marela and Bharela, but Bagga the bear advises him to talk to humans and Bajrangi asks whether there is anyone who knows the language of humans. A white bird, seemingly a pigeon, Hawa Hawaai pipes up, saying he knows someone who knows both animal and human languages. Yuvi meets the white bird the next day, and asks who is the one he said about. The white bird says the animal he spoke of is Alex, a parrot who lives with a director, Vikram Khosla. Bajrangi, his "army" of two monkeys, Hawa Hawaai, Bagga, and Yuvi go and kidnap the parrot and convince him to go to Delhi with them to talk to the parliament and save their land. Initially refusing, Alex agrees to go to Delhi. Begum, Bagga, Bajrangi, and his army board a train to Delhi from Mumbai. Yuvi joins them after some time. They then reach Gujarat with guidance from Raju, a bat. In

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, they meet flamingos and a couple who gives them shelter in their homes. One of the flamingos strictly advises them not to cross the banyan tree to avoid the wolf Kaalia and his gang. However, Bajrangi goes there and ties Alex for Kaalia to kill him so that no one can doubt him. Yuvi spots Bajrangi and confronts him but they are spotted by Kaalia. Begum arrives in time to save them. After this incident, Alex pretends to have lost his voice. The animals consult a doctor who prescribes some

ayurvedic Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

medicines to recover Alex's voice, claiming that he has hypertension, stress, and high blood pressure. Bajrangi wholeheartedly does the hard work, sometimes getting injured. One day, he discovers that Alex was just pretending and chases him, inadvertently hitting a beehive. All the animals run with bees chasing them. A thrilling experience of trains follows after Bajrangi tells Alex how guilty he feels of thinking to kill him. Alex also realizes how selfish he was and decides to help he animals. Begum tells that no one is going to Delhi after listening to a tiger's story of how he only survived death at a human's hands by being a coward and forsaking his old ways; thankfully, following a pep talk and seeing Sultan's spirit and Yuvi who inspires them, Begum changes her mind and with renewed hope, proceeds to Delhi. They finally reach Delhi and tell their message through Alex to the Prime Minister of the country that they want peace between humans and animals and how Yuvi inspired all of them to go to Delhi despite all the incidents. In the last scene, it is shown the jungle is saved courtesy of a shared land act (with the area being called the "

Sanjay Gandhi National Park Sanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as SGNP, is an protected area in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1969 with its headquarters situated at Borivali. The 2400-year-old Kanheri caves, sculpted by monks out of the rocky basaltic ...

-Borivali") and all are happy and settled. The film ends with all animals settled in the Jungle with Yuvi seeing his father's spirit and Begum happy.

Cast

Hindi Version

as Bajrangi the Monkey *

as Alex the Parrot *

as Bagga the Bear *

as the Begum the Mother Leopard *

as Sultan the Leopard * Swini Khara as Yuvraj the Cub Leopard *

Prem Chopra Prem Chopra (born 23 September 1935) is an Indian actor in Hindi and Punjabi films. He has acted in 380 films over a span of over 60 years. He has a soft-spoken diction despite being a villain in most films. His 19 films, with him as antagonist ...

as Kaalia the hyena *

Deepak Dobriyal Deepak Dobriyal (born 1 September 1975) is an Indian film and theatre actor. He is recipient of a Filmfare award. He worked in many Bollywood films such as '' Omkara'' (2006), ''Shaurya'' (2008), ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011), ''Dabangg 2'' (2012), ...

as Hawa Hawai the pigeon * Sanjay Mishra as Marela *

Saurabh Shukla Saurabh Shukla (born 5 March 1963) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, and film director who works in Hindi and a few Tamil and Telugu films. He is famous for his roles in '' Satya'' (1998), '' Nayak: The Real Hero'' (2001), ''Yuva'' (2004), ''L ...

as Bharela *

Rajesh Kava Rajesh Kava (born 18 March 1979) is an Indian voice actor, fluent in Hindi, Gujarati and English. He is best known for being the third Hindi dub-over voice artist for Daniel Radcliffe's role as Harry Potter, in the last three Harry Potter ...

as Male Flamingo, hyena cook, and Raju Guide *

Akhil Mishra Akhil Mishra (born 22 July 1965) is an Indian film and television actor who has worked in films such as ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', ''Gandhi, My Father'' and television serials such as '' Pradhanmantri''. He was working in the serial ''Do ...

as the tiger

English Version

as Bajrangi the Monkey *

as Alex the Parrot *

as Bagga the Bear *

as Begum the Mother Leopard *

as Bee Commander/Sultan the Father Leopard *

as Yuvi the Leopard Cub *

as Male Flamingo/Hyena Cook *

as Pigeon *

as Female Flamingo *

Brian George Brian George (born 1 July 1952) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt in ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), the Indian gynecologist father of Raj Koothrappali in ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019 ...

as Bat *

Roger Craig Smith Roger Craig Smith (born 11 August 1975) is an American voice actor. He is well known for his video game voice roles as Chris Redfield in the ''Resident Evil'' series (2009–2017), Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series ( ...

as Bharela/Marela *

JB Blanc Jean-Benoît Blanc is a French-British actor and director of film and television who has worked on animations and video games in Los Angeles. Early life Blanc was born in Paris, the son of an English people, English mother and a French people, ...

as The Director/Prime Minister *

Dave Wittenberg Dave Wittenberg, sometimes credited as Dave Lelyveld, is a South African-born American voice actor and scriptwriter. Early life Wittenberg was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was raised in the Los Angeles area. Career Wittenberg voices ...

as Kalia the Hyena Leader *

Troy Baker Troy Baker (born April 1, 1976) is an American voice actor and musician. Baker is known for his video game roles, including Joel Miller in ''The Last of Us'' (2013) and its sequel (2020), Booker DeWitt in ''BioShock Infinite'' (2013), Samuel ...

as Tiger * GK Bowes as News Reporter #1 *

Kate Higgins Catherine Davis Higgins is an American voice actress, singer and jazz piano, jazz pianist. Career Music career Higgins earned a degree in music from Auburn University in 1991. She is a trained pianist who studied with the jazz artist Bob Richard ...

as Antelope *

Lex Lang Lex Lang (born November 12, 1965) is an American voice actor and voice director, who has provided voices and served as a director for a number of animations and video games. He is best known for voicing Doctor Neo Cortex in the ''Crash Bandicoo ...

as Hyena #1 / News Reporter #2 *

Joe Ochman Joe Ochman is an American actor who is most active in voice over roles in various animation shows, films, and video games. He is the fourth and current voice of Jiminy Cricket since 2014. Filmography Live-action * '' Adventures in Voice Acting' ...

as Man / News Reporter #3 *

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore (; ) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk and Beast (comics), Beast in various Marvel media and Solomon Grundy ( ...

as Hyena #2 *

Travis Willingham Travis Willingham is an American voice actor. His most notable roles include Roy Mustang in the ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' franchise, Portgas D. Ace in ''One Piece'', Ginko in ''Mushishi'', Knuckles the Echidna in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchi ...

as Man in Shades

Release

''Delhi Safari'' had its world premiere at

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

in June 2012. It was theatrically released in India on 19 October 2012.

Reception

Critical response

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

gave Delhi Safari 3 stars, writing ″With satire, spoof, humour and wit, director, Nikhil Advani has highlighted the ongoing aadmi v/s animal battle, the desperate need for preservation of wildlife and the downside of deforestation. His creatures entertain and tell the story in true Bollywood style (too many songs and too much drama ‘foxes’ the plot). The problem is, he doesn’t cut to the chase, and it turns out to be more like a long safar than a safari. The 3D effects are striking in parts and amongst the best we’ve seen in India, but few scenes are déjà vu ‘Lion King’. Alex and Bajrangi with their histrionics and rip-‘roaring’ banter are the stars of this show. While the cartoon creatures will appeal to kids, there’s more for adults here. The ‘real’ Men of the jungle that is. So, Hakuna Matata, go watch it once. And take your cubs along.″ Rohit Khilnani of

rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

gave it 3.5 stars, calling it ″a must watch″. He further wrote ″Despite the predictable song-and-dance and even the story, Delhi Safari works as the train journey from Mumbai to New Delhi has a few of stops and fun moments that fit well into the plot.″ It was awarded

at the

with a citation "Animation and animal kingdom come together in showcasing the enormous significance of harmonious cohabitation of humans and nature. State-of the-Art Indian technology employed in this film should make us proud!". Conversely, Miriam Bale of

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

gave a negative review calling the film ″without wit and, sadly, entirely forgettable.″

Neil Genzlinger Neil Genzlinger is an American playwright, editor, book reviewer, and theatre and television critic who frequently writes for ''The New York Times''. Family Genzlinger is a grandson of the late ''The Philadelphia Bulletin'' columnist Don Rose. ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

called the film ″shameless rip off much better animated movies″, he further wrote ″This film is supposed to represent a step forward for Indian animation. The trouble is, there’s not an original idea in it.″

Box office

The film grossed during its entire run in india. In the United States, it grossed $4,334 in 20 screens in its first weekend. The film was released in South Korea in 2013 where it grossed US$1.83 million and China in 2014 where its lifetime collection is US$1.27 million

Accolades

Delhi Safari qualified for the 2012

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, and was listed in the "reminder list" for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature and Original Score.

Soundtrack

Hindi

English

The title track was among shortlisted 75 songs which were contender for nominations in the Original Song category for the

85th Academy Awards The 85th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2012 in film, films of 2012 and took place on February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, ...

Sequel

Krayon Pictures announced a sequel ''Beijing Safari'' which they will co-produce with Chinese production house Heshan Media.

Tab Murphy Tab Murphy is an American screenwriter, film producer, film director, and television writer. Biography Murphy's theatrical debut, ''Gorillas in the Mist'', was nominated for an Academy Award for his writing. In 1995, Murphy made his directorial ...

will write the film and

Daniel St. Pierre Daniel St. Pierre is an American film director, art director, production designer, voice actor, animator, and musician.List of Indian animated feature films This is list of Indian animated films. It includes theatrical films, some important short films, direct-to-video releases and International films in which Indian production houses and studios were involved. Notable short films Feature films ...

References

External links

* *
Official Facebook Page
* {{National Film Award Best Animated Film 2010s Hindi-language films Indian animated films Indian 3D films Indian musical comedy-drama films Animated adventure films Animated comedy films Animated musical films Animated films about bears Animated films about birds Animated films about cats Animated films about monkeys Mockbuster films 2012 films 2012 computer-animated films 2010s adventure comedy films 2010s musical comedy-drama films Films set in Mumbai Films set in Delhi Environmental films Best Animated Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by Nikkhil Advani Indian children's films 2012 comedy films 2012 drama films Animated films about animals Animated films about insects Animated films about apes