The nightmare of Bombay Dreams

The Times of India: "American theatre critics have savaged the $14 million musical extravaganza which opened in New York on Thursday. The dream-shattering raspberry comes from New York Times' Ben Brantley, who, it is said, has the power to make or break a Broadway show. He describes the musical as a "friendly, flat and finally unengaging tale of glamorous movie folk and lovable untouchables." It is 'pleasant...but never ever compelling."

Brantey's review is kind compared to the scorcher from USA Today's Elysa Gardner. "How do you say 'mind-numbing bunk' in Hindi?" Gardner begins her review. "I couldn't tell you, but after attending a certain preview performance last weekend, I'd like to propose a new English-language synonym: Bombay Dreams."



Giving the show one star out of four, she calls it "a contrived story and generic-sounding tunes are slapped together as an excuse to haul out glitzy sets, diz-zying costumes and stupefying special effects" and says "the plot consists of similarly cliche-ridden, pseudo-populist hooey." And for those believe Rahman is a Mozart from Madras , here is Gardner 's take on his music: a syrupy stew of faintly spiced pop cliches...the equivalent of a Big Mac sprinkled with curry powder. "