Former Indian mariner to direct Hollywood-Mollywood movie

CHENNAI - A Dubai-based Indian businessman and former marine architect, Sohan Roy, is all set to entertain the world with a Hollywood-Mollywood blockbuster based on a 100-year-old British dam in India and the lives of nine characters associated with it.

Produced by Marine Biz TV, the project is the first global maritime television channel solely dedicated to the marine industry.

The film is based on the collapse of the Mulla Periyar Dam, built by the British, on the Mulla Periyar River in Kerala. The film will also be about the dangers and safety of the lives of mariners.

Enthusiastic about the project, Roy has great expectations from it. DAM 999 is a unique and different from the usual Hollywood marine films, he says.

“Most of the maritime movies are huge hits, but they are all showing the negative aspect of the sea. Biz TV network also runs the only maritime TV channel on the shipping industry. So, we thought of promoting the industry with a feature movie showing the positive aspect, that was the beginning of this movie,” he said.

The film is also partly based on Indian philosophy, and talks about the nine ‘rasas’, ‘Navarasas’, the nine basic forms of human emotions namely ‘Adbhut’ (wonder), ‘Shant’ (serenity and peace), ‘Bhibatsya’ (disgust), ‘Hasya’ (laughter), ‘Rowdra’ (fury), ‘Veer’ (valour), ‘Shringar’ (beauty), ‘Bhay’ (fear) and ‘Karuna’ (pathos).

The ten-million dollar film would be shot on a commercial vessel and released by 2010.

Roy has signed Mollywood actor, Thilakan, for a role and also hopes to rope in Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for the project. (ANI)