Mufasa: The Lion King is a movie released in theaters by Disney.
And if you already knew about this picture, there could be a big reason behind it: the news that for the Hindi dub of this movie, Shah Rukh Khan, along with his elder son (I don’t remember his name) and younger son (I could guess, but what’s the need—you already know) have done the Hindi dubbing. The father and his two sons have lent their voices, which we’ll talk about further.
However, the main catch that you should probably know about this image is that it has been produced by the revamped creator, Lord Disney, who has been on the expedition for a long time of recreating the animated classic from any sixty, ninety or twenty-eight years before. The Lion King, the previous two were the Twenty-One: Ninety-Four, and the two were done nearly a year and a half later than the other (the release date would have been 21:2019), and that was able to end up doing an absolutely obscene amount of business. They are among the highest-grossing animated films of all time.
Who thinks that they can stop there – they certainly can’t! And so we just follow the adventures of Simba. His dad will die early, maybe in the first quarter hour. Now they have a whole movie that will focus on the father of Simba, Mufasa in baby lion style. The film explores how he went through a tragedy in life, learned to live, met new people, and created a family-load of all of which will be out in today’s release, Mufasa: The Lion King.
The Storyline
And since we’re already talking about the story, let’s conclude this part. To put it politely, the story doesn’t have a complete arc because many plot points from the original movie are reused, and whatever is different is something we’ve already seen in many other movies. So, story-wise, there’s nothing new, unique, or groundbreaking. It just fits neatly into the whole Lion King universe, which is already loved worldwide.
I did find one point a bit ironic. A dialogue says, “A king’s son won’t necessarily become king; only the deserving one will.” And I was like, damn, what a movie to pick this topic, because let’s face it, Shah Rukh Khan and his sons voicing the characters is mostly a marketing tactic. Fans are excited to see the whole family and to know that these three have worked on this. But let’s also address the elephant in the room: they wouldn’t have gotten the chance to voice these characters if they weren’t Shah Rukh Khan’s sons.
One interesting point, though: five years ago, the father and son voiced characters in the 2019 movie as well—Shah Rukh Khan as Mufasa and his elder son as Simba. That movie was all about the son’s story, so Shah Rukh’s lines were fewer. Here, it’s the opposite. Simba has fewer parts, so the majority of the movie is Mufasa—voiced by Shah Rukh Khan. As for son number two, where does he fit in this picture? Shah Rukh Khan’s character, Mufasa, when he’s younger and has a younger voice, has been dubbed by his second son.
If this mental map is clear, let’s talk about how they performed. Well, actually, if no one told you beforehand, you wouldn’t even notice. Shah Rukh Khan’s voice is definitely recognizable, but if you don’t know Aryan and Abram’s characters beforehand, you won’t notice either because they blend in well. It’s not perfect. You’ll notice a difference when compared to professionals like Sanjay Mishra and Shreyas Talpade—like an 18–20 or 19–20 difference. Definitely, a professional voice actor could’ve done better, but they’re good at what they’ve done. The movie experience doesn’t pull you out of it. So, I’d say, personally, this contributes to the movie beyond just being a marketing strategy.
Read Also: -1.Kangana’s Emergency Movie Review: A Powerful Performance Amidst Controversy 2. Game Changer Movie Review: A Mix of Socio-Drama and Mass Masala
Coming to the rest of the movie, if you go in expecting that it was made just to earn money, you won’t be too disappointed because the original animated movie from 30 years ago is a cult classic. The 2019 Lion King remake was also made to earn money. The biggest merit of the 2019 movie was its visual quality—the CGI was impeccable. The way the animals were animated, their hairs—it was photorealistic. Experiencing it on the big screen was something else. Heck, they went so far with realism that it turned into a negative point: the animals’ faces lacked expressiveness. All this is about the 2019 movie.
Now, if you go watch this 2024 movie, the CGI level is quite good. But does it offer something new compared to the older movie? No. In fact, the Hindi songs in this movie—it’s a musical, so the characters sing in between the story—only one or two tunes appealed to me, and I’m just talking about the tunes. The Hindi lyrics, translated from the original, don’t even match the level of the older movie.
Visual Quality
I watched this in 4DX—it was my first 4DX experience. If you don’t know, that’s an insane, chaotic experience. If there’s a waterfall scene, they’ll spray water on your face. If a character is walking through flowers and valleys, they’ll release scents for you to smell. And most of the time, your seat will shake. If the camera is tracking a flying bird, your seat will move similarly. When it hits right, it’s amazing. But as soon as an action sequence comes up, I held my head because my neck started hurting. You can’t eat popcorn properly—if you try, it’ll fall because of the strong shakes. If you’re holding coffee, hold on tight—it’s a bit too much.
And I don’t get why they randomly flashed lights into my eyes. It makes sense when there’s a lightning scene, but they did it even during normal shots. Like, let me go blind, why don’t you?
Final Thoughts
The final conclusion about Mufasa: The Lion King is this: if you’re a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan and are excited about the Hindi dub, then go watch it. You’ll enjoy moments like when they say “Main hoon na” four times in the movie. But for the rest of you, I’ll just say there’s no groundbreaking new experience here. If you want to watch a family-friendly movie that’s mostly oriented toward kids, don’t watch the 2019 Lion King at home—this needs to be experienced in theaters. If you have no issues with money or time, go knock yourself out.
Otherwise, overall, the movie is pretty decent. Traveling so far wasn’t worth it for me, but let’s hope you get something out of it.
