By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS,
Dubai : Most Hollywood films show maritime activities as dangerous or tragic, but an Indian resident of Dubai is set to make an emotional thriller that will focus on the positive side of seafaring.
Sohan Roy, a resident of this Middle Eastern metropolis for 16 years, will debut as a movie director with “Dam”, whose shooting will begin in February next year. It will feature actors from both Bollywood and Hollywood.
“The main concept behind making this movie is to bring to light many (good) things about the maritime industry that the public is not aware of,” Roy, who hails from Kerala, told IANS.
“We will have actors from Bollywood and Hollywood. Also, we will have actors from the maritime industry who will play important technical roles in the film,” he added.
Asked about the actors who would feature in the film, he said the process of selection was on.
“The process of selecting the actors is currently under way. Malayalam actor Thilakan has been approached for the movie,” he said.
Well-known for his excellence in character roles, Thilakan was chosen for a special prize by the jury of India’s National Awards that were announced Tuesday. The prize, which he got for the film “Ekantham”, is his second National Award.
Roy said it would be released in end- 2009 and it would be set in Dubai, Kerala and offshore locales.
“We may shoot in Singapore too,” he said.
Earlier, speaking to Khaleej Times, he said: “All the Hollywood movies portray maritime activities as dangerous or tragic. The film ‘Titanic’ is an example. ‘Dam’ will focus on showing the good side of maritime activities.”
He said “Dam” would be made in a classic style highlighting the concept of ‘navarasas’, the nine forms of expressions in acting through the nine characters of this movie”.
“The ‘rasa’ is an emotion inspired in an audience by the performer, originally conceived by the ancient Indian author Bharata Muni in 300 BC,” he said.
Outlining the movie’s storyline, he said it would revolve around a 100-year-old dam built by the British in India and feature nine main characters.
The movie will be an in-house project of Marine BizTV, a 24-hour free to air global maritime channel operated by Aries Marine, a leading Dubai-based ship design and consultancy firm in the Middle East.