Mahdi Ahmed

My last post was on November last year. Now it’s 2009, and a month has already passed from this year. Often I have asked myself, what the hell have I done lately? Now after 2 months and few days later, I am going to answer that question to the best of my ability.

To be honest, I haven’t done much. However, last year marked a good year for me in writing. Unfortunately none were produced. Most of my screenplays were shelved due to budget constraints. Only 00:00 was green lit. Even that has fallen in to a getting-delayed curse. But good news is that 00:00 will start principal photography in mid March, that’s next month. That’s something to get excited about.

I must confess that I felt tired after writing so much last year. So obviously I needed a break to reboot my brain cells. That I did on December. I took a holiday with my wife to amazing Cambodia. We stayed in Phnom Penh where everything’s cheap and the traffic is a jam. We also visited the wondrous Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. Usually I am a wet blanket myself when it comes to sight seeing, but Angkor Wat took my breath away. Thanks to my wife for dragging me there and in the end we ended up having the time of our lives. Actually this trip to Cambodia was like killing two birds with one stone. First it was a much needed holiday for us. Secondly to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. We married on 16th December 2004. We also declared this our second honeymoon since our first honeymoon ended in tragedy in Phuket on 26th December 2004. That was the day the tsunami hit. We made a narrow escape, luckily.

After returning from Cambodia, immediately I started working on a concept Seezan discussed earlier last year. I even started writing to some extent and then for some odd reason or two stopped. Now I have resumed writing on this suspense thriller with a love triangle that unveils in NuwaraEliya, Sri Lanka where the two from three play each other with tragic consequences. The working title of this one is called KEHI meaning TRICK. At first I had scheduled to wrap up writing in January. But due to unforeseen circumstances such as getting busy at office and many more, I was unable to finish. So cometh February and I am hoping to hand over the first draft to Seezan by the end of this month.

In the midst of writing KEHI, I did something I haven’t done before. Halted writing it and finished another one. Sometimes these norms are meant to be broken. This another one was not only a quickie but a shorty for Ted, the finest Dhivehi film maker on my map. It was a short film screenplay of 10-15 minutes which Ted is going to make for an NGO with an anti-drug agenda.

I have delivered that screenplay titled HIYANI, translated REFLECTION. It’s about a drug addict girl who on her final minutes of fragile life reflects on her past. The screenplay shows how sinister forces in society turns innocent people in to addicts. Then again, its up to each and every individual to decide the path that individual wants to walk.

Ted’s contract has 2 short films. The first one’s written. And the second one is also to be written by me. But Ted is suppose to construct the structure of that screenplay. I am eagerly awaiting for him to finish his part which I am sure he will do in no time. It’s always a pleasure to be part of his team.

Coming back to Seezan’s screenplay, so far I have written the first 30 minutes of it. But I need to fast track my work on this one, even though the structure has been made. This year I have resolved to write more than I have written last year. So God help me achieve this goal.