Kevin Lima had a huge success with Enchated in 2007, but he hasn’t directed any more movies since then. Now DreamWorks Animation has announced that he’s set to helm Monkeys of Mumbai (working title), the studio’s first-ever Bollywood-style animated musical adventure.
As previously announced, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, The Prince of Egypt, Enchanted) is serving as lyricist, while A.R. Rahman (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Bombay Dreams) will be composer, and Gurinder Chadha & Paul Mayeda Berges (Bride and Prejudice, Bend It Like Beckham) are writing the feature project. It’s quite a crew!
“Ever since Enchanted, I’ve been looking for a film musical and when DreamWorks Animation approached me with the prospect of doing a Bollywood musical with such renowned collaborators, I knew this was the one,” added Kevin Lima.
Inspired by the great Indian epic tale of The Ramayana – but retold through the point of view of its monkeys – Monkeys of Mumbai revolves around two common monkeys who become unlikely heroes in a last ditch effort to stop an ancient, thought-to-be-mythical demon from conquering the world. The project is being overseen at DreamWorks Animation by development executive Chris Kuser.