Bagheera is a character in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
He is based on the character of the same name from the original stories by Rudyard Kipling.
Role in the film[]
In the 1994 live-action movie, Bagheera serves as a jungle animal friend to Mowgli and his pet wolf, Grey Brother. After Mowgli and Grey Brother were separated from civilization, Bagheera found them the next day. Hearing Shere Khan's roar from a distance, Bagheera signaled with his tail for Mowgli to grab onto it so as to lead him out of harm's way, revealing he meant no harm to the boy or cub. It took a bit of a while until Bagheera finally brought Mowgli and Grey Brother to a pack of Grey Indian wolves. Seeing as to how the child was young, friendly, helpless, harmless, and kind to a cub of their species, the wolves accepted them as members of the pack; much to Bagheera's delight. Especially since Grey Brother was already a young wolf without a pack.
Years later, Bagheera is seen spending most of his time in a tree, not doing much, and sometimes running with a fully-grown Mowgli, Grey Brother, a new friend named Mowgli the brown bear (who was saved as a cub by Mowgli on the day he was accepted into the pack), and the wolf pack. After Mowgli had been reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Katherine "Kitty" Brydon; antagonized a British officer named Captain William Boone (the main villain of the film); pushed two other officers into a river as with Boone before; and is close to being shot by one of Boone's men, Lt. John Wilkins, Bagheera and Baloo are seen roaring at the soldiers, thus scaring them off as a means of protecting Mowgli. Nevertheless, due to Wilkins' shock, he instead accidentally shoots Mowgli on the right arm.
A few days later, after Mowgli has learned the ways of men and re-entered civilization thanks to Kitty 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 had already left with Kitty and her father, Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, to bring Katherine to the ship to England. So, Mowgli goes out and follows them with the wolves and Bagheera behind. After saving Dr. Plumford from death by an Indian bandit named Buldeo, Bagheera is seen charging along with the wolf pack against the Indian bandits. Dr. Plumford is then taken by Mowgli to save Baloo's life.
After Mowgli (who had no choice: either the treasure the villains are after, or Kitty and her father's death) is captured by the evil British soldiers – Boone, Lt. Wilkins, and Sergeant Harley – and the remaining Indian bandits – Buldeo and Tabaqui – Bagheera can be 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 and licks his chops to show his hunger for them. The next morning, Bagheera is seen biting through the ropes restraining 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 was successfully cured from his injuries by Dr. Plumford (who also managed to cure Baloo), to find them.
