Monsoon Wedding: Broadway calling!

Bombay Dreams might just mark the beginning of an extended innings for everything that is Indian and Bollywood on Broadway. For, the musical avatar of the Mira Nair-directed Monsoon Wedding is expected to be the next hot thing on Broadway.
‘‘Negotiations have reached an advanced stage,’’ reveal sources familiar with the latest developments on the Monsoon Wedding front, ‘‘Three production companies have made a pitch for the rights to turn the film into a musical extravaganza.’’ Among the production houses in the fray is the one which has produced the successful Broadway musical Hair Spray, directed by Jack O’Brien, who is also the director of The Full Monty.
Of course, converting a successful film into a theatre act is nothing new. Hair Spray is itself the Broadway version of the film by the same name. Even the surprise hit of the year, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was a theatre act before Rita Wilson, Tom Hank’s wife, decided to make it into a film.
Meanwhile, it has been a dream run for Monsoon Wedding. The film features among the leading six top-grossing foreign films in the history of the US box-office. But the Monsoon Wedding effect goes beyond the film’s box-office appeal.
From merchandising products to news of the film being adapted for TV in the US to negotiations for a Broadway musical — it has been a dream run for Monsoon Wedding. Similar is the story with the number of awards the film has picked up — the latest addition to the list being the Best Foreign Film award at the fifth British Independent Film Awards. Well, it certainly looks like Monsoon Wedding is enjoying an extended honeymoon!