By Andrew Gans
04 Oct 2004

Bombay Dreams, the new musical at the Broadway Theatre that concerns the rise of a Bollywood film star, may be headed to the silver screen.

Variety reports that the musical, originally produced on the London stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber, may make the stage-to-screen leap via Really Useful Films. In fact, a motion picture is currently being developed, and shooting will most likely be done in India. Austin Shaw, the managing director of Really Useful Films, told the industry paper, "It's effectively a Bollywood film in a Western style, so it makes sense to shoot it in India." Farah Khan, the co-choreographer of Bombay Dreams, is in the running to helm the motion picture.

Another Andrew Lloyd Webber project, Sunset Boulevard, is also still a screen possibility. Really Useful Films, according to Variety, is trying to persuade Paramount Picture that the film is "worthy of making." Glenn Close, who starred in the Broadway production of the Tony-winning musical, is "definitely in the frame." Hugh Jackman, who portrayed Joe Gillis in the Australian production of the Lloyd Webber-Don Black musical, would be a logical choice for the role of the ill-fated writer.

Bombay Dreams — featuring a score by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and a revised book by Thomas Meehan and Myra Syal — plays the Broadway Theatre, located at 1681 Broadway at 53rd Street. The company features the talents of Manu Narayan (as Akaash), Anisha Nagarajan (as his love, filmmaker Priya), Ayesha Dharker (as Rani), Sriram Ganesan (as Akaash's best friend Sweetie), Marvin L. Ishmael (as Madan), Deep Katdare (as lawyer and Priya's fiance, Vikram) and Madhur Jaffrey (as Akaash's grandmother, Shanti).