MUMBAI, JANUARY 18 The musical that was born in Bollywood, slapped on Indian kitsch and played up the quintessential tinseltown romance, will reach Mumbai this year. In fact, Mumbai is the first Indian city where Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams will be staged, before it travels to China and Honk Kong, official sources said.

Speaking to Express, composer A.R. Rahman said: ‘‘It is exciting but it’s also a pity that India is yet to see the musical which the rest of the world has already seen.’’ Produced by Kerry Comford, GM, Really Useful Pictures, the Asian tour is expected to feature a new cast that will be chosen in India.

‘‘The music will have the best of both Broadway and West End releases,’’ revealed Rahman. While Bombay Dreams ran two full years at London’s West End, it fizzled out in less than a year on this January 1 after its April 2004 debut at New York’s Broadway.

The composer dismisses the brickbats which the production received in America. ‘‘Americans are always talking about their own culture, so they can never be at the receiving-end and accept something from outside,’’ he said, adding that the musical moved to America at the wrong time. ‘‘This was the time when Americans felt that Indians were stealing their jobs, though I’m not at all disappointed...’’

Choreographer Farah Khan will remain to be involved in the project that received three nominations for the 58th Annual Tony Awards, including Best Choreography of a Musical (Anthony Van Laast & Farah Khan), Best Orchestrations (Paul Bogaev) and Best Costume Design (Mark Thompson) last year.