According to Variety, Dreamworks is developing an animated musical called Monkeys of Bollywood. While CinemaBlend states that it’s the studio’s first animated musical, Dreamworks’ film record shows that the first two animated movies the studio made,The Prince of Egypt and The Road to Eldorado, were big budget musicals.
Monkeys of Bollywood will feature music from A.A. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (mostly associated with Disney films like Enchanted, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and will be based on the Hindu epic tale, The Ramayana. In the Bollywood-style film, two monkeys will team up to stop a demon from taking over the world. Also behind the film, according to Variety, are producer/director Gurinder Chadha (Bride and Prejudice, Bend it like Beckham, Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging) and her husband and writing partner, Paul Berges.
For those who haven’t seen Bollywood movies before, what you should expect from the genre are extravagance in colors, costumes, and storytelling. Intricate musical and dance numbers are also a huge part of the Bollywood experience.
Seeing as how musicals seem to be making their way back into animation, it’ll be interesting to see how this film will add to the animation landscape.
