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Bombay Dreams

Topic started by Sajeev Raj (@ 210.195.144.64) on Sat Apr 13 22:31:21 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Bombay Dreams is releasing in June 2002

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• Old responses
  
• From: completeReviewfrom Hindu (@ 192.44.136.103) on: Thu Jun 20 18:26:18 EDT 2002
  
  'Bombay Dreams' opens on a disappointing note
  
  By Hasan Suroor
  
  
  
  LONDON JUNE 20. After months of hype, Andrew Lloyd Webber and A.R.Rahman's raunchy musical Bombay Dreams opened at the London's West End on Wednesday evening to uniformly indifferent first reviews raising doubts whether Bollywood will ever be accepted seriously by a critical western audience.
  
  Early warning signals were apparent even through the mist of glamour that surrounded the opening night attended by the cream of London's multicultural glitterati and suitably reinforced by Bollywood attractions such as Shah Rukh Khan flown in from Mumbai. Minutes into the show and a "star'' British broadcaster, who is incidentally a household name in India, had gone to sleep while others struggled to look interested.
  
  The £ 4.5 million extravaganza, which took three years to make and was expected to revive Lloyd-Webber's flagging career, left even supportive Asian expatriates wondering if it was the best advertisement for popular Indian entertainment. And British critics were scathing. They called it "shoddy,'' "superficial'' and a "mish— mash'' -a "gooey Bombay mix'' that simply failed to live up to its promise.
  
  The Times tore it apart for its "trite lyics,'' "cardboard characters,'' convoluted dialogue and the "tamest ending in West End history.'' It would take more than a "spoonful of curry powder,'' the newspaper said, to turn this "mishmash into a hot ticket.''
  
  The Independent lamented that a potentially interesting project had been spoilt by "formula and mediocrity.'' "It suffers from an uncertain tone, an identity crisis... and (the) show leaves one unmoved despite all the colour and movement— and there isn't even enough of that,'' it said. The Daily Telegraph found Meera Syal's script a "mess''— a complaint widely echoed in British media-performances ranging from a generally unknown cast from "the merely competent to downright ropey'' and set a "gaudy kitsch.''
  
  The only winner, according to critics, is A.R.Rahman's music and even if Bombay Dreams fails to take off, as seems likely, his own popularity would only soar. The weakest link is said to be its story centred around the heartbreaks of a cinema-struck boy from Mumbai slums who finally makes it good, falls in love with an ambitious director...etc..etc. While Asian audiences found it too all too familiar, British viewers thought it was too thin. The "big question,'' as one reviewer said, was "whether white audiences will buy an Indian musical, and whether the British Asians, numbering more than two million, would go to a West End theatre in sufficient numbers.
  
  Some of the big British and Bollywood names associated with Bombay Dreams include choreographers Farah Khan and Anthony Vas Laast; Shekhar Kapur, and lyricist Don Black. Among the cast Ayesha Dharker has been widely praised.
  
  A lot rides on the show's outcome and its failure could well signal the start of the decline of the Bollywood boom in Britain.
  
  
  
• From: Saketh@Atlanta (@ 66.56.8.108) on: Thu Jun 20 18:27:01 EDT 2002
  
  The reviews for BD are mixed, at best. Not sure Indian audiences will pay to watch rehashed tunes; to me that is a big let down. Adapting old songs to stage format, come on - why did ARR let ALW use his old tunes? I have not seen the show, but from whatever I have gathered, it seems the show is:
  - the same old thing for Indian (or South Asian) audiences
  - a bit too noisy, clamorous and too Indian for Western audiences
  
  May be it is too early to tell about the long term success of the show, I don't know. People in London might have a better idea. There is this incident between Max Mueller and Tagore, quoted in the article in Guardian (link given earlier in this thread) has the correct idea, I think. Whatever said, the West has its own problems appreciating the East. As Tagore said to Mueller, "If anything seems strange to you and does not please you, you turn away"
  
  Kudos to ARR for getting beyond TFM and HFM. Many talented people in India have not been able to cross that bridge.
  
  All IMHO.
  
  
• From: senthilv.com (@ 12.239.160.236) on: Thu Jun 20 18:58:44 EDT 2002
  
  Karthik:
  
  You know what these critics are like?
  
  They are like the beggars waiting outside the Kalyana Mandapam to eat the left overs and thrown-overs for free and then complaint about the food "taste" and "quality".
  
  They only know to shiit. That is why everything smells like shiit for them.
  
  If there is anything wrong with the BD it is in ALW's conceptualization and re-selling the tunes and yeah, not leave all the producer TALKS and Hypes.
  
  For ARR, IT IS THE WAY TO GO my man.
  
  All the way ARR way :-)
  
  
• From: West Wide Webber saar - Yennayya? (@ 205.188.201.201) on: Thu Jun 20 20:06:52 EDT 2002
  
  the point is this poor rich composer has been travelling up and down london for 3 years. (see, that is like going to 3 year music college i think. maybe in the future ARR will come up with exciting musicals.) but, musicals is a pure depressing thing. if it doesn't get good reviews, then you can see the actors feelings! everyday for 6 months, they will perform like clowns.
  
  but, this is a beginning i am sure for Indian composers. Rahman was easily accessible to ALW, who happens to be a shrewd businessman but woman pleasing cat. You think anyone can tell IR to come up and down for 3 years to do a musical? In 3 years he finishes 150 films and would've given careers to a few hundred technicians, actors, entrhalled listeners with variety and not just 19 songs, given life to record shops, look at those days, when you and i went to a record shop (forget this copyright nonsense - idea of greedy and selfish CEOs) and recorded on cassettes. what a time pass.
  
  Musical is also an elitist kind a show. Ordinary folks would find it most of the acting pretentious if not presumptuous. Pretty stressful too sitting around a live orchestra the noise is killing.
  
  It is possible ALW will make money off the CDs, learn how to compose like Rahman, get publicity for his own next production and so on. West is westend, East better stay Asian. That is my feeling. The fact that ALW brands Indians as Asians, when there are no Asians in the scene, one can see a lot of attitude in Webber.
  
  Machchi Rahman, kavallapadathey, naanga pathukkarenya. don't worry i say
  
  
• From: Arr fan (@ 151.201.30.120) on: Thu Jun 20 22:39:05 EDT 2002
  
  yaro,
  most of the reviws ("you choose to read") have just echoed what you said earlier
  
  there is 60:40 review on this album as far as music goes certainly it is great step forward for indian music!. Technically a big step forward , kudos to arr, our musicians have a greator chance for international break!
  
  make adutha theru andrew to hear your work! using any marketing in the world, it is hard!...he will not hear you.
  arr has achived something, dont expose your superior brain! in the name of arr hatered.
  
  Kudos to ARR!...
  
  
• From: MIF (@ 202.9.180.240) on: Fri Jun 21 00:33:49 EDT 2002
  
  wat we are interested is the music of BD alone(atleast me :)).......and that has had an encouraging review........thats all that matters
  
  after all u see im an optimist ;) :)
  
  
• From: indian (@ 202.9.186.30) on: Fri Jun 21 00:50:11 EDT 2002
  
  BOMBAY DREAMS is ranked 6th in amazon.co.uk's "Hot 100 Music Albums"..
  
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/subst/music/charts/amazon-chart.html/ref=ed_best_h_m_5/202-7724054-8871000
  
  Three cheers to the "Asian Mozart" !!!
  
  
• From: indian (@ 202.9.186.30) on: Fri Jun 21 00:56:11 EDT 2002
  
  "SHAKALAKA BABY" single from BOMBAY DREAMS ranked 24th in The Box Top 100 charts. (even before the release of the single !!!!!) .
  
  "SHAKALAKA BABY" has gone ahead of such big hits like ENRIQUE IGLESIAS - ESCAPE, RONAN KEATING - IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES etc.
  
  
  Three cheers to the "Asian Mozart" !!!
  
  You are doing the country proud.
  
  
  
  
• From: indian (@ 202.9.186.30) on: Fri Jun 21 00:57:31 EDT 2002
  
  link: http://www.thebox.co.uk/charts.shtml
  
  
• From: 60 irundhu 6 varai (@ 152.163.194.181) on: Fri Jun 21 03:28:51 EDT 2002
  
  indian, naan rahmanukku ivlavu panniyirkkun ninaikayavayilley. enna na, nethu raathiri (ill illey, nethu raathiri yamma - athu illey, no,no, not that..) naanu 3 copies order pannen. (uk villendu,directa, Visa cardu vechu. onlinu.) aththanala irrukkalam album araanumberilley yeridichchu!
  
  appadinna, ninga online amazon.co.uk poyittu moonnu order place panninga, nalleykku No. 2 illey yegurum. nirbandanam onnu illey, but it can help Indian musical a lot ;----)) yenna ya periya amazon.com charts
  
  
• From: OISG (@ 213.150.188.254) on: Fri Jun 21 04:57:03 EDT 2002
  
  Asian Mozart? That s bit too much!
  
  BTW Maestro nnu solli IR ai ozhichachu!Eppa Asian Mozart nnu solli ARR ai ozhikkanuma?
  
  From the reviews it looks the prayers of HCIRF for a BD crash has been anwered by the almighty.
  
  ALW seems to have done a "Nandhavanathil oor Aandi".
  
  
• From: yaaro (@ 195.93.48.156) on: Fri Jun 21 05:19:17 EDT 2002
  
  I ,for one,have not been praying-I can tell this for sure.but since all of you have assumed,well,keep it that way.I have said only good things about his music in BD.may be I am just pretending that I like it isnt it?
  look at the foll facts-
  the major nos in the show were all recycled.(incidentally,chaiya chaiya is my all time ARR favorite no)
  the non cycled nos are not for foreign ears(ganesh chathurthi no,qawalli,the first song in the bombay slums)-give me a break if you think these chaps will be listening to these songs in their car stereos.
  the ballads,as mentioned by a reviewer (and me) are all nonspecific-they have heard a hundred like them.as the reviewer put it,it looks as if it could have been composed by webber himself.
  ALW has been bombarding the asian crowds here enticing them to come with chat shows in asian radio channels.BBC seems to be almost acting like his PRO.the big magazines like times,independent have all given it a thumbs down-that is going to have a major influence.
  The crowd that reads tabloids-they are not the one which go for these musicals.
  Dont go by the opening night response from the so called celebrities-they are all his cronies who will come,give him an ovation and go back saying how silly Andrew is if he thought an indian show was what the west end needed now.If he like ARR so much he could have brought all his CD's and saved himself somewhere to the tune of 4 million pounds!
  As i say,it is early days-but if given a choice for a family outing in west end ,english will go for something like Chitty C Bang B-this itself will put a family back by a minimum of 100 pounds.
  so ARR fan,I assume you are not in UK-otherwise you would have seen it by now.These are the realities which may be hard to accept-but that is what life is all about isnt it?
  
  
• From: yaaro (@ 195.93.48.156) on: Fri Jun 21 05:22:48 EDT 2002
  
  Dont feel sorry for ALW though-he is worth more than 300-400 million pounds-imagine him asking hindujas supporting the venture.he is poorer in his pocket-but richer in experience.
  
  

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