It has been announced that a stage version of 'Slumdog Millionaire' is in the works. Ken Davenport is composing the music for the musical, which will see AR Rahman expanding the original score from the 2009 Oscar-winning film 'Slumdog Millionaire'. The musical is being produced in association with Celerder International.

AR Rahman said in a statement, "I am extremely excited to begin working on 'Slumdog Millionaire'. This new version will take the audience on an exciting journey with new songs and some unexpected twists. We can't wait for you all to experience it." The musical will also feature the film's famous song 'Jai Ho', which was composed by Rahman and written by lyricist Gulzar. 'Jai Ho' also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2009.

Set in the streets of Mumbai, 'Slumdog Millionaire' is the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik. Jamal gets accused of cheating while participating in a game show and he mentions incidents from his life from which he knew the answer to every question. 'Slumdog Millionaire' is based on Vikas Swarup's novel 'Q&A', the screenplay of which was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film was released in 2008 and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning eight of them.

Ken Davenport said, “My father Kenny Deepchand Hasija never talked much about his childhood in India. But when I took him to see 'Slumdog Millionaire', his stories, his love and pride for his country came flooding out of him immediately after the film was over. It was one of our closest moments. That's when I decided that one day I would bring my Indian culture on stage to honor it and show respect to Indians around the world. I never thought I would get the chance to do the same film with AR Rahman. I am extremely grateful for that and would like to extend a special thanks to Paul Smith.”

Ken Davenport, a two-time Tony Award winner – once for ‘Once on This Island’ in 2017 and the second time for the 2013 revival of ‘Kinky Boots’, has recently found success on Broadway with ‘A Beautiful Noise’ and ‘Harmony’. Additional creative team members, casting and production dates for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ will be announced soon.