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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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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: OISG (@ 213.150.188.44) on: Fri Jun 21 05:52:30 EDT 2002
  
  Yaaro
  
  Sorry I never meant you.
  
  I have read your posts on BD and you have expressed unbiased opinions.
  
  
• From: HCARRF (@ 192.19.194.27) on: Fri Jun 21 10:55:48 EDT 2002
  
  Just wondering wether we should mail some IR classic samples to ALW, to enlighten him about the true Asian mozart.
  ALW is not highly regarded in the music world. His compositions are elementary to say the least. I am not belittling ARR's effort in BD but BD is a futile attempt in promoting Bollywood masala to the west.
  
  They could have done it more aesthetically, as opposed to recycling foot tapping sleazy numbers.
  For all his 3 years of work for BD, all ARR can come up is 60% recycle, then I am starting to question his work ethic. Here we are, being invited to perform to a world wide audience and we recycle filmi nonsense. It an opportunity wasted.
  ARR might get his mileage but it all shows to prove how much marketing and gimmicks come to play.
  I am not a ARR basher but his well wisher and a proud Tamilian for ARR taking us to international arena. To me he is our cultural ambassador to the west and he should be have been more conscious.
  
  
• From: Common Friend (@ 203.197.141.186) on: Fri Jun 21 11:17:23 EDT 2002
  
  from ARRYG:
  
  Bombay Awakes - NEW
  Bombay Dreams - Influences of bass in the beginning from 'Ni Main Samajh Gayee' from Taal... but the song is NEW
  Like An Eagle - NEW
  Loves Never Easy - A remix of 'Ishq Bina' again from Taal
  Don't Release Me - NEW
  Happy Endings - A remix of 'Yaire Yaire' from Rangeela, but only the 'Mukhda' seems to have been used... no signs of the original Antra. The song does sound good though. Actually, if ARR hadn't remixed the song and had used the original score with english lyrics, it would have sucked big time. This bi-pitched (2 chorded) remix does grow on to you...
  Ooh La La La - Another remix... this time from Sapnay/Minsara Kanavu. The piano in the beginning sounds great... takes you to a different mood. But psychology says "Oye yaar... wohi purana gaana hai..." Personally I feel if remixed completely, the Antra of this song had a great potential for rhythic hungama
  Shakalaka Baby - Except for the words Shakalaka Baby, and the 2 lines following it, and No no no no no no no no... the song is new... hmmm... Actually it could have been easier for me to say that only the 1st few lines are new... and the rest fo the song is remixed :) Pravin Mani's voice was required to give the additional depth to the song... he was good in the original... having a deep voice.
  Are You Sure You Wanna Be Famous? 'Eeeiyyooou'... ARR seeks to have dug out some real old sample cds for that answer... :) This 'Eeeiyyooou' was used extensivly for the background of Kaadhalan too... (or was it Love Birds... both starred Nagma and Prabhu Deva.. hence the confusion) It was there in the old Shakalaka and is there in this edition too... This song has influences of 'Sona Nahi Na Sahi' from One 2 Ka 4 (the beat structure), but the song is orginal.
  I could live here - Don't let Anu Malik hear this track... he'll say ARR copied it from him. The flute peices have very slight traces of the song 'Jab Dil Mile...' from Yaadein. Well... Anu was not original there too... It was a partial lift from a prayer song called 'Brahma Murari Surarchita Lingam'.. if any of you have heard it... It a prayer for Lord Shiva. Anyways.. the song sounds nice.
  Only Love - NEW.. tuned to Bombay Awakes
  Chaiyya Chaiyya - One hellava remix. Sounds good with the in-between rhythm breaks; but fails to spur up the enthu as generated by the original.
  How Many Stars - NEW
  Salaam Bombay - A new composition, but has some influences of 'Yenna Solai Pogirai' from Kandukondain Kandukondain. But nice song.
  Closer Than Ever - A very well made remix. For all those who never noticed.. the tune of the song is not the tune of 'Nahi Saamne...' I mean... if you listen carefully, the tune to which Nahi Saamne was set, is not the same tune to which the lyrics of this song are set. It is the interlude of Nahi Saamne that Closer Than Ever is tunes to. a great scream by ARR in the interlude - in a completely contradicting raag. The sitar could have been better...
  Ganesh - NEW
  The Journey Home - NEW
  Wedding Qawwalli - NEW... Am gonna use this when I get married.. :) But it does remind of of Sukhwinder's composition for Monsoon Wedding.. Kava Kava.
  Bombay Sleeps - Same as Bombay Awakes... only shorter...
  19 songs... 13 NEW.. 6 mind-boggling remixes.
  
  
  Got it. All 60% recycle are all bul s*ht.
  
  
• From: Sarvesh (@ 195.93.32.167) on: Fri Jun 21 13:52:30 EDT 2002
  
  Guys BD won't run for long time. BD has only taken advance booking of 2 million pounds, whereas the budget of the musical to be put to stage was 6.71 million. ALW may break even but this is doubtful.
  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has taken advance bookings of over 10 million.
  People are just not interested in seeing rehashed song sung on stage. For this we can just go an see ARR in concert.
  The news that SHakalaka Baby has charted higher than Enrique Iglesias is utter nonsense because it is already number 4 in the UK top 100. So please check your facts before posting.
  Shakalaka Baby is virtually unheard of here in UK, and even when it does release, it won't be a hit.
  
  
• From: genius (@ 65.205.71.253) on: Fri Jun 21 16:04:43 EDT 2002
  
  man... www.bombaydreams.com is a porn site!!!
  is that one of the reason that tickets didnt sell much.. cause a many few thought it is a porn show...
  they could have spent an extra 100 grand or so to buy that site....
  
  
  
• From: ThaLaM (@ 206.191.84.251) on: Fri Jun 21 17:30:02 EDT 2002
  
  www.bombaydreamsthemusical.com is da rite site .. pluz .. ALW asked rahman to use certain numbers from his previous recordings in the musical. datz da only reason that he recycled 'em, at the request of ALW .. not his own.
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ 194.170.127.161) on: Sat Jun 22 02:57:28 EDT 2002
  
  Great review CF !!
  
  I always thought that "Jab Dil Mile" from Yaadein was a blatant lift and inspiration from "Chaiya Chaiya" - the "...nagma nagma..mere thalma? thalma? part.
  
  
• From: Sathya (@ 24.191.186.191) on: Sat Jun 22 12:16:59 EDT 2002
  
  'An exotic Indian dish, but where is the meat?' headlined The Times, which praised the music, choreography and some performances in the $7 million musical Bombay Dreams, but slammed the show for its over-drawn story and bland direction.
  
  'If Shakalaka Baby takes off in the club,' he added, referring to the hit song and dance number in the show, which was widely applauded by the audience, 'if the Asian community rallies around and if enough pulses race at the thought of gyrating damsels in wet saris, Bombay Dreams may stagger through the cricket season.'
  
  While such broadsheets like The Times and The Guardian (with about 1 million readers) faulted the show for its stage play (book) by Meera Syal and less than commanding direction by Steven Pimlott, mass circulated tabloids such as Daily Mirror and Daily Express, which have more than 3 million readers, gave it wonderful reviews.
  
  Everyone agreed that A R Rahman's music was wonderfully fresh and ecstatic. The music has not yet started climbing the charts but many reviewers felt the Shakalaka Baby number could be gold.
  
  The Times as well as The Guardian, which give starred reviews, gave the musical three out of five stars
  Ayesha Dharker's (of The Terrorist, The Mystic Masseur, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones fame) scintillating performance in the Shakalaka Baby number has made it the highlight of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical, Bombay Dreams, which premiered in London's opulent Apollo Victoria Theatre on June 19.
  
  'Ayesha Dharker's vibrant performance is one of the few highlights of the musical,' said The Times. The Daily Express declared Shakalaka Baby has 'chart potential. The big fountain dance -- the water flying about in this makes Singing In The Rain [the classic 1950s movie] look like a drought -- is a high point.'
  
  Mani Ratnam's Dil Se may have bombed at the box-office, but its Rahman-composed music -- and, in particular, the song Chaiya Chaiya -- became a huge success.
  The original song was filmed on a moving train on Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and MTV veejay Malaika Arora. The recreated version in Bombay Dreams has been performed on a moving platform and has come in for much acclaim.
  
  Chaiya Chaiya in Bombay Dreams is one of the highlights of the play.
  
  http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/jun/22dreams.htm
  
  
• From: Sathya (@ 24.191.186.191) on: Sat Jun 22 12:24:22 EDT 2002
  
  Ayesha Dharker, star of Bombay Dreams
  Rahman-Lloyd Webber musical premieres in London
  Ayesha Dharker was the critics' darling in The Terrorist, with her performance as a young woman agonising over violence as a political tool.
  
  
  
  "Who was that girl?" several people in the audience were heard asking during the intermission, as they hurried through their production notes to read about the cast.
  
  "The show could have opened with that number," said one viewer, referring to the number that appears nearly an hour after the show starts, complaining that it had taken a long time to warm up.
  
  Today, Dharker will be better known as Rani, the seductress.
  
  Dharker, who plays a movie actress in the musical Bombay Dreams, belts out the seductive Shakalaka baby number (and many raunchy lines), in the musical, as if possessed by Madonna or one of those sexy divas.
  
  But if the enthusiasm of the audiences on June 19's premiere is any indication, Lloyd Webber has a hit.
  
  But experts say that Lloyd Webber's 'gamble', scheduled to run at Apollo Victoria till September 29, may not recoup its investment even if it plays to capacity. Only an extended run and licensing of the show in other cities, particularly New York, will make it profitable. On the other hand, if the reviewers trash it, curtains will come down fast and furious, and Lloyd Webber might have to write off his entire investment.
  
  http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/jun/20dreams.htm
  
  
• From: yaaro (@ 195.93.32.167) on: Sat Jun 22 14:47:40 EDT 2002
  
  from todays daily mirror
  
  SOUNDS NAAN TOO GOOD Jun 22 2002
  LISTENING to Andrew Lloyds Banker this week, talking up his latest musical, I felt as though I was observing the captain of the Titanic, rearranging the deck chairs while assuring passengers that all was well.
  
  To be fair, staging a Bollywood-style musical in London is a fresh and courageous idea and, as he didn't write the music, it should have had every chance of success.
  
  But to be fairer, the critics seem to agree Bombay Dreams will be lucky to last the summer. "Ham melodrama... preposterous story... dialogue that would test the patience of Mother Teresa... the lamest ending in West End history," said one.
  
  And he was trying to be kind. As a kid, I occasionally visited a nearby Indian cinema on Sunday mornings and fell in love with Bollywood movies. I didn't understand a word, I just loved the music and the spectacle.
  
  But I realised even then that the essence of Indian films is the intense energy packed into each scene and you can no more recreate that on the stage than you can expect 100 metre runners to keep sprinting non-stop for three hours.
  
  Worse, what I've heard of this show's music reminds me of a delicacy called paan (it's served in the best Asian restaurants).
  
  A tiny amount is delicious, but it rapidly becomes sweet, sickly and hard to swallow.
  
  No wonder the press has given "Bombay Dreams" such a paan-ing.
  
  
  
  
• From: yaaro (@ 195.93.32.167) on: Sat Jun 22 14:48:56 EDT 2002
  
  http://www.mirror.co.uk/columnists/victorlewissmith/
  
  

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