SHARED GOALS: Musician A.R. Rahman and producer Andrew Webber Lloyd address the press In London

Graham Bradbury, general manager of the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London seemed a happy man. "Advance ticket sales are pretty good," he murmured. Rehearsals for Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical, Bombay Dreams, will not start till the end of March but already the ticket lines are up and running. Top prices are £40 but even at £14, an outing to see Bollywood fantasy brought to the London stage won't be cheap for Asian families.

The Appollo Theatre is being rebuilt to hold the massive set. Still, Lloyd Webber, the greatest impressario Britain has produced, is pretty confident the project will be a hit. For a start, he points out that A.R. Rahman, who is doing the music for the show, is the best thing that has happened to the West End.

At the Cinnamon Club, Iqbal Wahhab's up-market restaurant, he produced Rahman, along with his leading actors, Preeya Kalidas and Raza Jaffrey, with the air of a magician who has a world beater on his hands. As the man who gave the world The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita and a host of other musicals, Lloyd Webber is sure of the way forward-Bombay Dreams.

SIGNPOST: A poster of Lloyd Webber's forthcoming production

For his launch party, the Cinnamon Club almost ran out of standing room. The musical is from an idea by Shekhar Kapur and Lloyd Webber; the script is by Meera Syal (the storyline is the familiar poor boy/rich girl); the director is Steven Pimlott; production design by Mark Thomson; choreography by Farah Khan; and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale. And music, of course, by A.R. Rahman, two of whose Bollywood hits, one each from Taal and Dil Se (Ishq ke bina and Chaiya chaiya), have been incorporated into the musical.

Anyone who knows anything about West End musicals will appreciate Lloyd Webber has lined up a formidable array of proven talent. "We have a pretty good team," he acknowledged, a little smugly.

PICTURE PERFECT: Lead pair Preeya Kalidas and Raza Jaffrey cosy up for cameras at the launch party of Bombay Dreams

Indian tycoons at the party were keen to invest in the production

There was a clear divide between Indian and English journalists at the launch. The former clearly wanted the project to work; the latter were, if not hostile, clearly sceptical.

"Don't you expect to have lots of Asian families?" asked an Indian film journalist, throwing Lloyd Webber a friendly full toss.

"That," sighed Lloyd Webber, "would be lovely". His press supremo, Peter Thompson, got a sweating Lloyd Webber to answer much the same set of questions from a long line of British TV, radio and print journalists. Bollywood was a million miles from the West End, one asked. Why did he think it would succeed in the West End, especially when he had closed Starlight Express after 18 years and was due to do the same to Cats after 21 years?

A mysterious smile flickered across his face. "Instinct," he replied. With Lloyd Webber's track record, that was probably a reassuring answer. He would like Indian tycoons, some of whom had come to the launch, to invest in Bombay Dreams. The proposed budget is £4.5 million, "which is £1.5million less than my other musicals", disclosed Lloyd Webber.

Lord Bagri, chairman of the London Metal Exchange, did not seem opposed to the idea. "I have had him round to dinner," he revealed. "Actually, both Andrew and I were introduced to the House of Lords on the same day."

Other potential investors at the party were Surina Narula and Karan Bilimoria who were seen hovering at the party.

Lloyd Webber began by playing a little of Rahman's music to film clips put together by Nasreen Munni Kabir. After introducing "the great man himself", he brought on Preeya Kalidas, looking very star like in a shining white outfit, and her leading man, Raza Jaffrey, a young actor discovered by the Tamasha Theatre Company. After they had sung a number, Love's never easy from Bombay Dreams, the couple cuddled up cosily for the photographers.

So far, so good, but will Bombay Dreams work? Lloyd Webber believes he is bringing Bollywood on to the stage at a time when Mumbai's film industry is big in Britain. "Have you seen Lagaan?" he rounded on one journalist, who felt the theme of Bombay Dreams would be too unfamiliar for western audiences. "It is a marvellous film. I hope it gets an Oscar."

Although there was never any guarantee of success, he had pinned his hopes very much on Rahman. He felt the particular quality of his music was like a fresh breeze in tired London and Broadway. He would introduce technical innovations to ensure audiences heard Rahman to best effect. "I am a great fan of Rahman's music. For the first time in the history of the West End, we will have digital sound for the music-the music is the most important thing," he stressed.

It has been a long time, ventured Lloyd Webber, since a musical has produced hit songs. This was the trick. "Forgive me for saying so, but they were mine," he declared, without false modesty. He had been taken to see Dil Se in Harrow by Shekhar Kapur. He was also given a clutch of Bollywood videos. Every fifth song seemed to have phenomenal music and they were all written by the same man-A.R. Rahman.

There was nothing for it, said Lloyd Webber, but to fly to Bombay with Kapur and ask Rahman whether he would work with him on Bombay Dreams. "He agreed," said Lloyd Webber.

Rahman, standing near to him, looked suitably modest. "In Bombay, I have to do the production, the engineering, the music, everything by myself," replied Rahman, when asked the difference between working in Bombay and London. "Here, I concentrate just on the music. There are other people who take care of everything else. The difference is I am working with English lyrics."

A Shiv Sena type at the party demanded why the musical was not called Mumbai Dreams. "You can't sing to 'Mumbai'," Lloyd Webber responded tersely.