Bagheera is of 1998 live-action direct-to-video The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story. In this incarnation, Bagheera is portrayed as a female panther.
She is based on the character of the same name from the original stories by Rudyard Kipling.
Role in the film[]
Bagheera is first seen attending Hathi's meeting at the watering hole to which during the meeting, she comments about Shere Khan and his sidekick Tabaqui during the meeting at the watering hole just before the two leave, warning the two that they will be to watching them. Mowgli then encounters Bagheera where he would sit next to the panther and talk to her for hours to which after talking, Mowgli continues exploring his life across the jungle.
Bagheera and Baloo later attend a meeting with the Seeonee wolf pack to which the two confront Shere Khan and Tabaqui about the two preparing to harm Mowgli only for the duo to leave the meeting as Bagheera and Baloo attempt to protect Mowgli. As Mowgli is accepted into the wolf pack, Bagheera and Baloo teach Mowgli the instincts of hunting to which during the montage, Bagheera tells Mowgli that a big part of hunting is trickery, planning to fool Chil to which after distracting Chil, Bagheera comments on working on practicing this skill. Bagheera then tells Mowgli to focus on a lesson on stalking and catching by using his senses to catch a rabbit only to catch a skunk instead, due to Mowgli's impatience. As time went by, Bagheera observes Baloo offering Mowgli to eat grubs to fuel his energy which the plan to look for grubs was unsuccessful and when Mowgli asks Baloo to help teach him how to hunt fruit, Bagheera overhears, telling Baloo that Mowgli needs to practice hunting to fight against Shere Khan, just as Baloo tells Mowgli to impress Bagheera with the same bird call to distract Chil in order to impress Bagheera. Just as Mowgli heads to the water to catch fish, Baloo tells Bagheera to teach him to catch fish just as Mowgli attempts to catch a fish like Baloo but his plan to catch one like him was unsuccessful. Afterwards, Bagheera approaches Mowgli, where she discusses with him that a good hunter never lets his guard down, because someone could be hunting him (referring to Shere Khan stalking Mowgli) which Mowgli replies to Bagheera that it wasn't him to shot him; Baloo then tells Mowgli that Shere Khan never plays fair while Bagheera tells Mowgli to look into her eyes, telling him to know what it's like to be caught in a big cat's gaze. Mowgli looks hard into Bagheera's eyes, making an offer with Bagheera that if he practices with her, Mowgli would be immune to Shere Khan's hypnotism.
After Mowgli left the wolf pack after failing to catch a deer, he approaches Baloo who tells him that everyone makes mistakes, even Baloo himself, while Bagheera replies that the Seeonee pack might forgive him and Mowgli's wolf parents must have been worried about this, just as Bagheera plans to take Mowgli back to his wolf family, which Mowgli refuses to go back, telling the panther to leave him alone. Bagheera then denies, telling him that running away is not the answer. She then recaps that when she was a cub, Bagheera got mad at her parents and escaped from them before she was caught by a group of poachers trying to sell her for her fur (as revealed in a flashback), telling Mowgli that she was chained up in a cage and felt sad that she would never see her family again. As the hunters were planning to move Bagheera to a bigger cage, Bagheera managed to escape from the hunters, telling Mowgli that she felt lucky. She then gives a very valuable lesson she learned as she shares it with Mowgli, telling him that if he is mad or upset, the worst thing he can do is to run away from his troubles. Baloo then agrees with Bagheera's story she shared with him, feeling that it would help Mowgli get ready for the next day just as Bagheera plans to ask Raksha then next day to help Mowgli.
The next day after Mowgli is captured by a group of monkeys in Monkey Town, Bagheera asks Baloo to know if he saw Mowgli lately which Baloo replies that Mowgli ran off with a group of mischievous monkeys, which Bagheera plans to find Mowgli and rescue him. As Bagheera and Baloo are on their way to find Mowgli and rescue him, Bagheera tells Baloo to hope that they should arrive at Monkey Town first to make sure Mowgli escapes. Bagheera suddenly arrives at Monkey Town trying to make sure Mowgli is safe, warning Mowgli that he won't be safe if he doesn't escape before Shere Khan arrives. She then plans a distraction plan to help rescue Mowgli. In a plan to rescue Mowgli, Bagheera tells the baboons that she found a map leading to the a lost land full of large bananas which Bagheera manages to distract the baboons and the other monkeys in a plan to rescue Mowgli while Baloo smashes through the hut's front door where Mowgli was locked at, rescuing him. As he enters, Baloo warns Mowgli to escape before Shere Khan arrives which Mowgli and Baloo manage to escape.
The next day, Hathi wakes up Baloo and Bagheera who have rescued Mowgli from Monkey Town which Hathi warns Mowgli about the bad news about his wolf mother Raksha which Mowgli rides on Hathi to arrive at the spot where Raksha was last seen which Baloo and Bagheera follow along where they arrive at Mowgli's home where Mowgli knew the horrible reason about why Hathi took him where they approach Raksha who was killed by Shere Khan where Akela, his family, and the friends of the jungle mourn over Raksha; Mowgli, who learns about this, then risks himself to leave the jungle after he claims that it was his fault. Furthermore when Mowgli regains his confidence and tenacity, Bagheera later confronts Shere Khan and Tabaqui to which during battle, Mowgli banishes both Shere Khan and Tabaqui from the jungle. The next day, Mowgli shows an animal encyclopedia to Baloo and Bagheera which gives out information of the animals he finds like monkeys, panthers, or elephants just as Bagheera and Baloo bid a farewell to Mowgli who discovers new adventures every time he opens the book.
Trivia[]
- In the Soviet animated version of The Jungle Book Bagheera's gender was swapped due to the fact that the Russian word for "panther" is considered feminine. In The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, Bagheera is also a female.
