Mahdi Ahmed

When I am done rewriting RAANIYA, I might start working on ’40’ which is a drama set in a sleepy suburb of Male’ with very shady characters. Once again ’40’ relies heavily on a twist but of another kind. What’s with these twists these days? I haven’t a clue why I am so overly obsessed with twisting my screenplays with twists after twists.

But twisting goes back a long way. I was first fascinated with twists when I saw USUAL SUSPECTS. Then there was FIGHT CLUB. But twists twisted my mind with SIXTH SENSE. Then OTHERS forever twisted my fate.

I did a little bit of experimenting when I wrote VAAREY for then Ministry of Atolls Administration teledrama in 2000. It had this dramatic twist which kind of work at some levels. I was able to hide the truth from the audience and worked my way towards the twist at the end. When I wrote VAAREY, I was influenced by the SIXTH SENSE, which was released the previous year. VAAREY was an excellent experience that started the tale of my twisting. Since I am talking too much about twisting, Elvis is trying to contact me from his grave. He wants to know if I have turns with my twists.

Months back, I have developed the whole structure of ’40’ with my co-writer AHMED ZAREER. Visual director SHAREE was attached to direct. But just as writing was about to begin, there was a twist. SHAREE insisted on halting the project. He found ’00:00′ more tantalising. However, once writing ’00:00′ was completed, there were more twists. SHAREE’s schedule changed, the production was delayed for months, and then the producer left the project due to all these delays. In the end ’00:00′ was acquired by DV PRODUCTIONS. And to date, that project is still facing more delays. First, the production was delayed when shooting fell into the month of Ramadan, and now the political tension in the country has suspended the project indefinitely.

Coming back to ’40’, I have already negotiated this project with a studio. And now it’s almost a done deal. The studio is scheduling to begin shooting during the first quarter of 2009, and they will do all they can to get hold of SHAREE to direct.