Dam 999 director not to move SC immediately for lifting ban

"I respect the emotions of Tamil Nadu people and am sure their rage will cool down soon when they realise what the movie is originally about. So I am not going to the Supreme Court at least for a week," he told reporters here.

But he said he and his crew had earlier planned to go to the Apex Court when rumours spread that a nationwide ban would be slapped on the film, which was released in Kerala today.

Tamil Nadu Government had yesterday banned the film following protests from various political parties claiming it is based on the Mullaperiyar dam, over which the state is locked in a row with Kerala.

"Dam 999 is primarily a love story than a film on dam collapse. Even if you see the movie from the point of view of the dam collapse and the subsequent water tragedy, there is no reference in to it that the crumbling dam depicted in the movie is Mullaperiyar," he said.

Anybody can relate to the story in the movie with their land and the problems there, he said, adding that political parties in Tamil Nadu had been protesting against it without seeing it.

People mistook the number '999' in the title as the contract period concerning Mullaperiyar dam. But it was actually the symbolic representation of 9-9-2009 on which the dam collapses in the movie, Roy said.

Roy admitted that the ban had helped creat a hype and boost the commercial viability of the movie even before its release.

"The movie, coming out in four languages--English, Hindi, Malayalam and Telugu--apart from Tamil, depicts the story of construction of a weak dam, its collapse and the following water tragedy. But it can actually be seen in nine different perspectives," Roy said.

It can be seen as a love story or one on India's ancient medicinal system Ayurveda, on India's musical heritage or its astrological tradition besides the story of dam and water collapse, he said.

"My movie is actually an answer to the Oscar winning "Slumdog Millionaire" which created a wrong impression in the world that there are only slums in India. Through "Dam 999", we are trying to project our family values, vedas, nature's beauty, music and all," he said.

Roy also expressed happiness that his movie helped bring the Mullaperiyar issue to the limelight.

The 110-minute movie, produced on a USD10 million budget, will be screened in 200 countries, besides India. The US, Germany, France and Hong Kong are the main markets which have been targetted.

The script has already been selected to the Oscar library.

Roy said his next film is on Somalian pirates and its script is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.