Word: bollywood
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...America Goes Bollywood I was pleased to read "behind the Music" [May 3], about A.R. Rahman, who composed the music of Bombay Dreams, which has opened on Broadway. The growing popularity in the U.S of the music, movies and literature of South Asia shows the international appeal of my culture. It is difficult to convey the beauty and creative power of the subcontinent to my American friends, most of whom barely know where South Asia is located. I have enjoyed American culture; now it's time that Americans learned about mine. Rahman and other Indian actors, musicians, artists and writers...
America Goes Bollywood...
Soon Rahman added commissions for Hindi (Bollywood) films to his workload. In songs for Ratnam's Bombay and Dil Se, and for the Hindi films Vishwavidhaata, Taal and Lagaan, he created a body of work unparalleled, at least in the '90s, for ravishing melodic ingenuity. "I wanted to produce film songs," he says, "that go beyond language or culture." They went beyond India too. As Western film cultists discovered India's pop cinema, they realized that along with the ferocious emoting and delirious dances, there was a master composer--the man Indians call the Mozart of Madras...
...entranced by Chaiyya Chaiyya, an all-time irresistible bhangra sung on the roof of a speeding train. Lloyd Webber had found not just an inventive composer but also the solution to a vexing problem. "Musical theater had become very predictable," Rahman says. "I think Andrew felt that Bollywood musicals could be a new treat for the Western audience." Bombay Dreams (about half new Rahman songs, half greatest hits from his movies) has run for nearly two years in the West End. This week a new version opens on Broadway...
...from the original. (Three songs have been added.) Hardened Broadway regulars may find the show splashy but naive. Still, anyone with half an ear will hear the most vibrant, varied new score in ages. They will leave Bombay Dreams humming Rahman's songs and singing his praises. Broadway, meet Bollywood...