As the only Indian member of the film’s primary cast, Freida Pinto had additional duties on Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, besides playing the role of Messua, Mowgli’s adoptive human mother. She didn’t necessarily have advice for director Andy Serkis. “Everyone knew what they were doing, and they’d read the book,” she said, but Freida did have certain tips.The actor, along with Serkis and cast mates Christian Bale and Rohan Chand, was in Mumbai to attend the film’s world premiere – the first of its kind held for a Hollywood movie in India. “For the Hindi parts, he (Serkis) did give me a lot of freedom to improvise and do what I wanted,” she said. Since the film wasn’t shot in India, the production hired NRIs from Durban to play the village folk who take Mowgli.
