Dam 999 (2011)

Made in 2011 this Indian made film was widely hyped as being a 3 D disaster movie par excellence. It is all about a couple separated from loving each other due to having an inauspicious horoscope – I kid you not; if they snog the World falls off its axis type thing. This is against a background of a colonial throw backs' son who is actually played by an American. A one hundred year old colonial era dam is about to be replaced by a much larger Indian one. Only the usual money grubbing and political shenanigans has meant that corners have been cut.The characters run around being in and out of love with each other whilst we all wait for the monsoon rains to deliver the much promised for 'money shot' and that is the dam falling over. It is not a plot spoiler by the way as this is the films' whole raison d'être. We have sub plots to do with alternative medicine and spirituality – which I felt would have made a better film.The acting is not just wooden it is veneered in places, bad casting has added to this, there are also a number of frames where the 'actor' deliberately delivers their lines direct to camera. This may have been for the 3 D version but it is just stilted as is the ever too bright lighting that makes this look like it was all filmed during a super nova (which would have been the only real star in this entire production).The special effects are quite passé at best and at one time you want to shout 'it's a model', I mean this was bigged up for it great CGI etc and what we get is paltry and only for a few minutes of screen time. So not really a disaster film, disastrous some may say but not up there with any of the classics. I don't know why this won any awards, let alone so many including Best English language Film at Sangli Film Festival (possibly the only other entry was 'Debbie does Dallas - 3'?). I also don't know how I got to the end, I did fast forward a few times but this was the most unedifying film I have seen for a considerable while and would avoid everything by Director Sohan Roy from now on. The 10 out of 10 'reviews' for this on IMDb also seem to be from people associated with the film, but overall, as of today, it gets 3.7. I would give this a 3, so 2 stars is being generous. Only watch this if you are Sohan Roy as a form of punishment or you were in it – ostensibly for the same reason.

Sohan Roy directed DAM999 which is released both in 2D and 3D. The movie follows a mix of international and Indian cast shot in various locations. The debut-ante director's work turned to be very impressive, let it be drama or presenting the character depth on screen. Even technically brilliant work especially the ship shots in the beginning and the dam breaking scene was incredibly done.When it comes to acting Linda Arsenio and Ashish Vidhyarthi has done a tremendous job. American actor Joshua also did a pleasant work with his dialogs. Every character has a Rasa to their character, where 9 characters with 9 Rasa.The story is a newly heard one with a variety in script. It is not a commercial one so might not please the mass audience but yes, the rest. The movie's Music is composed by Ousephachen, very good indeed. It adds to the movie's flow. And Ajayan Vincent's cinematography was outstanding.I say Thumbs Up for the movie and the director.!!

The worst thing about this movie is that it tricks you into watching it promising to be a disaster movie in 3D. You would probably think what could possibly go wrong with that combo? However, the answer is everything! Dam 999 does what those sleazy Morning show posters do to you. The promise of hot bombshells shedding their clothes in the movie, which turns out to be nothing more than a 'blink and miss' hairy armpit show. The movie hardly had 3 minutes of 3D effects that too were nothing more than what you can probably create on your home computer these days. The acting was sub par, bordering on hamming and sounding like those badly dubbed Tele shopping commercials that haunt your televisions late at night. Disappointing.

Prologue: Watched this movie from 'Sridar'(theatre) in 3d today. As it was a movie by a keralite, & we are having a similar problem here in kerala , (Mullaperiyar Dam) the urge to watch the movie was very high. Read in newspapers that the script made to the Oscar library. So altogether, the expectations about this movie was high.Story: Its all about the figure 999 which has got importance all along.Two mariners coming home. Both having their own personal problems.The director tried to connect the dam to the characters in the movie. Their emotions holding back like a Dam & finally dam breaks at the same time the emotions are also opened. I could understand the story of 'Inception' in one watch. But this was complicated. It fails to connect with the viewers.Cast: Casting was like 'hmm.ok'. Thats it. Everybody did their part. But apart from the main actors, all others lacked professionalism. It was like they were made to act.You could feel, you are watching a movie.You couldn't live in it.Music: There is no notable music to show up off in this movie. Background score was poor. Actually we have seen lot of movies, though being average, getting uplifted by the background score. The songs were not impressive.Camera: Cinematography was good. But you don't notice it, since the movie is boring.My Verdict: This movie is boring. Will make you feel like a loser. It fails to communicate with the viewers. Not at all recommended. Im gonna watch a good movie from my library & save my day. phew... 3/10.