Amidst the controversies revolving around the Hollywood film-Dam 999 which was banned in Tamil Nadu due to its presumed similarity with the currently debated Mullaperiyar Dam issue, Director Sohan Roy told the media persons that he has withdrawn his decision to move the Supreme Court against the ban of the film and hoped that the Tamil Nadu Government would ease the ban in a week’s time.
“It is unfortunate that the people of Tamil Nadu has taken such a decision without even checking whether the limit has been crossed or not”, he said in the Meet-the-press organised here by the Press Club Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Those who are against this film have not yet watched the movie and prior to release the censor board had rechecked twice to ensure that the film had no elements that would raise any issues of tension between the two states. Our team is taking every effort to convince the authorities in Tamil Nadu so that they would soon realise their mistake and allow the screening of the film, he added.
According to him, there is no indication in the film about Mullaperiyar and the movie itself is dedicated to the many people who died in a similar collapse of the Banqiao reservoir in 1975, located in Zhumadian which was about 1,000 km south of Beijing in China. The title of the film -Dam 999 is representative of the date September 9, 2009 on which the dam in the film crashes and not the 999-year lease agreement of the Mullaperiyar Dam. The script was written such that in whatever language it is made, the scenes should adapt to the particular area. The misunderstanding must have risen because many assumed that the film was made based on an earlier documentary made by the team on the Mullaperiyar issue titled –The Lethal Water Bombs.
The film speaks about the different aspects of the country and the dam collapse is only a part of the story. After the release of the film –Slumdog Millioner, the world sees India as the land of slums. But Dam 999 portraits the tradition of ayurvedha, astrology, Indian Music, Indian culture and family bonds that exist in the people. It also act as an eye opener to the public about the level of corruption and creates awareness about the danger posed by old dams in the country, he said.
The ban on the film has only raised the publicity for this film and has created an environment where the people have taken up the issue of Mullaperiyar which had remained in the backstage for so many years, he added. The 10-million -dollar 3D movie produced by the Warner Brothers is released in 200 countries world wide.
