In Troubled Waters

Sohan Roys debut movie Dam 999 created furore in 2011. In Delhi to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani Award on Sunday,the Dubai-based businessman and budding filmmaker speaks about the political controversy surrounding the film and the theme for his next project

How did Dam999 come about?

I am trained as a naval architect and movies are a passion. I always wanted to make movies. I even joined the Malayalam film industry and wrote songs for six months. Later,I pursued a diploma in filmmaking from Hollywood. I wanted it to be different when I made a film. I had this urge to make a romantic movie. My wife was a dance teacher so I also wanted to make a movie on dance. I had some health problems in between,so I thought of making a movie on health. That is the concept of Dam 999. It has many stories and can be viewed from nine different angles. I started work on it in 2008. Its called Dam 999,because,in the movie,the dam breaks on 9th September 2009.

Your movie is based loosely on the Mullaperiyar dam. Were you surprised by the ban imposed by the Tamil Nadu government?

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The movie does not talk directly about the Mullaperiyar dam. I knew if I mentioned the name of this dam,the film would be banned and I would never get a clearance certificate from the Censor Board. So,I have not mentioned the name in the film. But I never anticipated the ban in Tamil Nadu. It was politically motivated and I was very upset. The ban cost me Rs 15 crores. Fortunately,I got back 10 times the money through private screenings and festivals. It made US $10 million. Next month too,there are screenings in Azerbaijan,Italy,and Jakarta.

What is your next project on?

It is based on Somali pirates but I need at least three to four months to write the script.

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