Sohan Roy

Sohan Roy
Sohan Roy, CEO, Aries Group of Companies
Born	Punalur, Kerala, India
Residence	Sharjah, UAE
Occupation	CEO of Aries Group of Companies, Film Director
Spouse(s)	Abhini Sohan
Children	Nivedya Sohan, Nirmalya Sohan
Website	Sohan Roy

Sohan Roy S K (born in Aickarakonam village in Punalur, Kollam district, Kerala, India in 1967) is a naval architect and CEO of Aries Group of Companies. He is known for his contributions in elevating Indian cinema in next five years to the top of world through Project Indywood. He is also famous for directing Dam 999, a Hollywood movie with Oscar entries and as creative head behind projects like Epica, Indo-China Giant Screen, Indywood Film Tourism, etc.

Career

Sohan Roy began his career with Marine Engineering in Merchant Navy. He worked as a Marine Surveyor for six years in United Arab Emirates. After serving with several major companies, Sohan Roy initiated Aries Marine.

Aries Marine and Engineering Services is a multi-function company in West Asia with a market share of 70 per cent in consultancy, marine engineering, ultrasonic thickness gauging and non-destructive testing.

He is the CEO of the Aries Group based in Middle East with subsidiaries in India and Singapore. He is the founder of Aries Marine, the flagship of the group, in 1998 and has developed it into a recognised ship design consultancy and survey firm. Over the period of years Aries group has expanded with more than 42 establishments in sectors of Marine, Medicine, Media and Movies. Today he has global reputation as the Director of the Oscar selected movie DAM999 and the Creative Head & Project Designer of many award winning films & documentaries. He is the consultant for 3 movies shortlisted in Oscars for the first time from India under the best movie category.

Over the years, he has gained experience in the fields of Naval Architecture, Surveys and Non-Destructive Testing. The realisation of the power of media was the driving force behind the formation of Marine BizTV solely dedicated to the marine industry. It was based on the fact that the maritime community needs a common platform to interact and broadcast their views and concerns. This new venture intends to develop and establish a maritime media and to be the single point of contact for all maritime activities.

Project Indywood

Project Indywood is Sohan Roy's latest and most ambitious project with an estimated $10 Billion investment. The primary target of the project is to revamp Indian Cinema and to turn the industry into global leader in revenue generation by 2020. The project was launched by conducting Indywood Film Market and All Lights India International Film Festival in November 2015 in Kochi. Project Indywood has 100 targets and Mr.Roy had already proved that it is possible to achieve them through sampling methods. Few of the important targets of the projects are to have world's best studio, world's best film school, world's best animation academy, 10,000 modern cinema screens across the country, etc.

Creative works

DAM999 Novel – The Novel is published by Indra Publishing House and will be soon made available in the market. This was penned by director Sohan Roy,^[1] intending to share the complete essence of the movie in more elaborate manner. The Novel will be offered to the readers in language English by the publisher.^[2]

Marine BizTV - Sohan Roy is behind Marine BizTV launched^[3] in 2007, which has grown to the leading global maritime channel all over the world.^[4] It is a global maritime channel with Dubai as its headquarters. It will give viewers insight into the maritime world using new media technology. It is committed to the development and integration of information and activities relating to the maritime industry. The objective is to provide a supportive platform to professionals with regard to opportunities and developments in the sector.^[5]

Safe Botel – An abbreviation for Backwater Operated Tourist Entertainment Launch, The very first innovative modern steel houseboat which is solar-powered.^[6] The prototype of Botel was unveiled at the India International Boat Show 2005 in Kochi. The concept of Botel is a floating hotel to promote backwater medical tourism with ergonomically designed interiors. A group of internationally recognised naval architects developed this Eco friendly design with no compromise made on stability and strength in a most economical way with a wide range of uses for personal as well as business purposes.Safe Botel made the headlines for quite a period of time.^[7]

Aries creations – A Research and Development Program in visual media to find out and promote the young upcoming talents in this area.Aries Creation is a subsidiary of Aries Marine Sharjah, UAE. Aries talent search is the first International venture formed under Aries creations to help youth kick start their career as actors,models, singers,art Directors and many more right from their college campus.Further more Aries Creations in association with Aries Media, Dubai launched a revolutionary concept of music auction for the first time in music Industry. This opened up a gateway to know and buy music and also deplete piracy.^[8]

Filmography

Burning Wells - Sohan Roy recently announced his ambitious 75 Crore project Burning Wells, a Hollywood film on Kuwait War to be co-directed by master craftsman IV Sasi. There are rumors that the project will feature Malayalam Superstar Mohanlal in a vital role along with the long list of international cast and crew.

Dam 999 – A 3D conceptual movie directed by Sohan Roy^[9] in association with 16 National and International Award winners, is the first Hollywood movie project by the mariners. DAM999 is a tribute to the 1975 Banqiao Dam disaster in china that claimed 250,000 innocent lives.^[10] The story revolves around nine characters portraying Navarasas(nine variants of human emotions) and an outdated dam.The movie shares about the menace to nature and people caused by dams, one the gravest environmental issues making hot debates around the globe.The movie also claims to have the World's first 3D website for a movie.DAM999 turned to be a controversial movie in India owing to its ban of its screening in Tamil Nadu^[11] with respect to its plot,^[12] the Screenplay of the movie written by Sohan Roy was added to the permanent core collection in Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences before its release in 2011.^[13][14] Apart from being the director of the movie, the lyrics of the soundtracks in the movie were also written by Sohan Roy. The music was composed Ouseppachan, out of which three of the soundtracks 'Dakkanaga Dugu',' DAM999 Theme song' and 'Mujhe Chodke' were officially selected for 84th Academy Awards.^[15][16]

Sohan Roy felicitated with the honorary Springs 2011 award

Apart from being selected for Best Picture,^[17] DAM999 was also shortlisted for best Original score for 84th Academy Awards^[18][19]

DAMs - The Lethal Water Bombs – An Award winning^[20] thought provoking short documentary movie that gives a scientific explanation on the disastrous nature of the Mullaperiyar Dam thereby bringing out those who turn a blind eye towards the reality of a possible natural disaster and sustaining the need for a secured future of those people who render sleepless nights under the uncertain situation of the Mullaperiyar dam.^[21] The Banqiao dam (492 million cubic metre) in China which has somewhat the same capacity of Mullaperiyar dam (443.23 million cubic metre), was destroyed by torrential rains in 1975 which claimed the lives of 250,000 people. The documentary is based on the possibility of a similar disaster that can happen in a place like Kerala and its dire consequences in the aftermath. It is estimated that 85% of all the large dams, numbering about 40,000 all over the world would have passed their projected life spans by 2020. As the total numbers of dams are increasing, the numbers of hazardous dams are also increasing at an alarming rate. Torrential rains, floods, earthquakes and landslides are the ones that can break the dam, and global warming has of late increased the incidence of untimely rains and floods. Despite been warned about the disaster caused by these dams, they are neither checked nor reconstructed. The documentary is a mirror that reflects the unspoken miseries of thousands of people who are under the terror of a possible dam collapse.^[22]

Saint Dracula 3D- In his second International venture 'Saint Dracula 3D'; Sohan Roy has a dual role.^[23] He is the Executive Producer and the Project Designer^[24] of the movie. A ‘Project Designer’ is an entirely new concept in the history of global cinema and will soon turn to be an unavoidable designation in the film industry. The project designer selects the apt Script for a production house along with identification of the right director needed for its theme. This profile is also the key person behind structuring the entire budget from day one shoot of the movie to distribution & worldwide release. The complete strategy of branding & promotions, worldwide publicity finally owing to marketing & distribution is charted by a Project Designer.

Awards and Recognitions

World's first 3D website for a movie

84th Academy Awards – Dam 999, the directional Debut of Sohan Roy earned 5 selections at Oscar Awards 2012 including Best Picture, Original Score and 3 Original Soundtracks. Apart from being a controversial movie in India^[11] with respect to its theme,^[12] the screenplay of the movie was previously added to the core collection of Oscar Library in the year 2011.^[13][14]

DAMs - The Lethal Water Bombs – The Short documentary video DAMs - The Lethal Water Bombs directed by Sohan Roy, released as the Curtain riser to his upcoming movie Dam 999 won the Award for best Documentary short at Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood 2011 along with numerous other awards and official selections .^[25]

Aries Chundan – On Punnamada Lake in Alleppey, Aries Marine built Aries Punnamada Chundan, the first steel snake boat (Chundan Vallam) and the longest boat of its kind,^[26] 144 feet long and accommodating 141 rowers, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records^[27] and Limca Book of Records.

First 3D movie Website – BizTV Network the production house of Dam 999 launched the World's first fully interactive 3D website^[28] for the movie.^[29]

Aries – Vismayas Max

In a recent acquisition,^[30] Aries Group has acquired Vismayas Max Studios, one of the leading post production studios in South India. Kerala’s first DTS studio Vismayas Max, headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram with a branch at Kochi, was set up notable film actor Mohanlal. Vismayas Max with animation, pre and post production works catered to more than 100 Indian movies in various languages. Now Aries Group houses the largest film and TV studio network in South India.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sohan Roy.

• Official website Sohan Roy