'More dangerous than Mullaperiyar, nobody talking about it' ; 'Dam 999' director Sohan Roy opens up

The horror whodunit film ‘Karnika’ is gearing up for its theatrical release. Director and producer Sohan Roy has made it clear that the entire profit of the film will go to the children of Wayanad. The revelation was made in an interview given to Kaumudi Movies.

Sohan Roy:

“We started the concept of charity movie not only in Malayalam but in world cinema. This is much like crowdfunding. ‘Dam 999’ came in 2011 and it was my utmost dream to make one movie. I wanted a social awareness theme so I selected the Mullaperiyar issue as the core of my subject. And this is 2024 and Mullaperiyar continues to top our discourse.

Mullaperiyar is not an isolated incident. There are many such dams in the world. In particular, the lifespan of concrete dams is fifty years. We have not thought of changing the dams after this period.

Across the breadth of Kerala, we have a copious number of dams. Mullaperiyar is the safest of these dams. Since it was a gravity dam, it is likely to survive for some more years. However, this is not the case with concrete dams. It is bound to be broken and one day it will. I am an engineer and it is a basic fact that these structures would not survive beyond a specific period. For me, the concern is not Mullaperiyar but other dams in Kerala.

Most of the concrete dams in Kerala are more than 50 years old. This is the real danger awaiting Kerala. Despite being a gravity dam. Mullaperiyar is situated in an earthquake prone area and in case of any such natural disaster, the worst dream may come true. All the dams will collapse in case of unexpected rains, landslides or earthquakes. It is for the people to decide on whether to live in such areas or move to other safe locations.

My house is near Punalur. Thenmala Dam is just behind. I know how the corruption worked there. The cements brought to strengthen the dam were sold for half the prices to locals by officials thus pocketing big money. These all affect the strength of the dam and unless this trend for greed ends, our land won’t be seeing any idyllic days soon."