Why Mullai Periyar Dam in Tamil Nadu could be a ticking Water Bomb?

The film DAM 999 is making waves not just because of its glorious tag line and making style, but its content. The movie is shot in Kerala and revolving around the age old controversy written in water - yes - written in water with the Mullai Periyar dam. DAM 999 is a 3D film made by UAE production house depicts the dangers posed by the collapse of an old dam. If such a calamity happens, the death toll could be more than the number of people who lost their lives in India from 2004 Tsunami.

It may be a smart move by the director to have added 999 to the title to make the connection to the dam in question. DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi called the title an apparent reference to the 999 year rights held by Tamil Nadu over Mullaperiyar dam.  But the director has a different reason and called that the DAM 999 revolves around nine characters, which represent the nine states of emotional stretch or the nine Rasas around a central edifice just like a pressure-mounted dam. 

Review of DAM 999

There was a special screening of the film in Dubai and even though the movie doesn't make any direct reference to the Mullai Periyar dam, but talks about 85 per cent of all the large dams, numbering about 40,000 all over the world, would have passed their projected life spans by 2020. Despite being warned about the disaster caused by these dams, they are neither checked nor reconstructed. The director Sohan Roy claims this movie to be a tribute to the quarter million lives which were lost in China during the Banqiao dam disaster in 1975. He has managed to portray the plight of the Mullai Periyar dam in a seemingly naive manner even though not making a single reference to it. This could be one of the movies which would have been unnoticed had it not be its controversial content. The visuals are done well to instill a sense of fear. The movie is worth the buck for a film lover. As they say - there isn't any thing such as Negative Publicity.

- Tetos (Visitor Review from UAE)