A dream that failed to materialise

IV Sasi was all set to helm Burning Wells, the biggest project of his career, which spanned over four decades, before his unexpected demise. The film with a multi-million buget, based on the Kuwait war, was expected to be his swan song, but the veteran filmmaker couldn't complete his dream project.

“Sasi sir's death was very unexpected and I was shocked to hear the news. Just two days ago we had a discussion about the cast of Burning Wells. In his absence we plan to go ahead with his dream and film it the way he wanted. I think that will be our tribute to the iconic filmmaker,” says Sohan Roy, producer and co-director of the film. Burning Wells, a film built on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, is expected to go on floors in December. Now, Sohan Roy, the MD of Aries Group and director of Dam 999, will handle the direction.

“Sasi sir was actively involved in the pre-production works of the film, and he used to come to Kochi every month for it. Recently, he was busy with Sohan sir in finalising the cast which includes Bollywood and Hollywood actors,” says Mukesh Nair, actor and spokesperson of Aries Group.

Burning Wells is a film woven around the consequences of the war. Set against the backdrop of Iraqi invasions, it  will chronicle the social, economic, political, legal, military and strategic aftermaths of war. An English film aimed at global audience, it will be dubbed in 33 languages including Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Nigerian, Persian, Japanese, Chinese, Philippines, Thai, Urdu, Sri Lankan, Pushtu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Marathi and Gujarati. The film is expected to hit screens in 2019.