A marriage made in Mumbai?

From the if-at-first-you-don’t-succeed department comes news that A.R. Rahman, composer for Oscar sweeper Slumdog Millionaire, is planning to adapt the hit movie for the Broadway stage. Much as we love to shake our vodka-buzzed butt at S.O.B.’s Basement Bhangra (to date, no photos have surfaced), this strikes us as a not-so-great idea.
Rahman has gone this route before, with his catchy but messy Bombay Dreams, which transferred here from London in 2004 and closed after nine months. The score was fun (especially the trippy set number “Shakalaka Baby,” sung by the delectable Ayesha Dharker), and it offered a lead role for the charming Manu Narayan, but the story was an unwieldy mix of camp, melodrama, romance and gritty realism. Yeah, sure: sounds a lot like Slumdog, and people seem to like that. But movies can  cut among these wild, disparate elements, especially with a fierce director like Danny Boyle at the helm. It’s true, the musical may be an interesting mongrel form, but we’re not sure it can contain the multitudes that a Bollywood-flavored Indian epic such as Slumdog requires. Prove us wrong, Rahman.