The "Jason Scott Lee was miscast" debate

Some have complained that Jason Scott Lee was miscast, but it's assumed Mowgli's mother in the movie (whom we never see and died when he was born) was of Asian descent. Keep in mind that, geographically, Southeast Asia is right around the corner from the jungles of northern Indian where the events take place, not to mention Nepal/China just to the north, and so mixed marriages weren't exactly unheard of. Meanwhile Lee himself is a mix of Polynesian & Chinese blood. For the movie, making Mowgli part-Asian made him an outsider to both the British and the Indians, which bolsters the 'stranger in a strange land' element when Mowgli is in civilization.