The film was directed by John Berry and stars Clint Walker, Jay North and Sajid Khan.

Italian composer Riz Ortolani, creator of the soundtrack for Mondo Cane and Pupi Avati's films, provided the musical score.

However, the boys overcome their differences and survive to deliver Maya and her sacred white calf Primo to a far away temple.

In the series, Terry Bowen, approximately a year older than he is in the film, arrives in India to reunite with his father, who he soon learns is missing and presumed to have been killed by a tiger.

Facing deportation back to the United States, Terry escapes the authorities and meets orphaned runaway Raji and his pet elephant Maya.