Mahdi Ahmed

SEEZAN has spoken. He has given his comments after reading the draft of VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA. Below is a brief summary of the long conversation I had with him on Friday afternoon.

First and foremost, he wanted the climax to be corny, the way I see it, that’s the only way the climax would turn up if his changes are incorporated. Unsurprisingly, like the trend of many local directors and producers these days, he wants the audience to cry an ocean. What, from a film that was written with a noir genre in mind! Anyway, he gave me his version of the climax or what he imagined, at which I was not able to digest even a little bit. I felt that not only his climax would make the characters and their inner selves unbelievable but the whole concept would turn unrealistic. Last but not least, he wanted more melodrama at situations where drama or melodrama was not required.

After much thought, I came up with a possible way to make the climax closer to what SEEZAN imagined but less what he imagined. However, to achieve this, I need to write few extra scenes that would lead up to a climax that would satisfy SEEZAN. Well, in this afternoon’s conversation with him, I explained to him of the new climax. Luckily, he was convinced. Phew!

It took more than thirty minutes to make him understand my point of view. For some odd reason, by then I was mentally tired, but I managed to ask him about other changes he wanted. He had a total of five additional changes, all of them to which I only agreed when he justified his reasons. That was when I switched  myself to listening mode meanwhile making shorthand notes of what he was trying to explain. After he was done, we hung up. I must say that even though I disagreed to most of what he said, at the end of the day, it’s his baby I am writing and I am fully obliged to write and rewrite to his standards.

I will begin rewriting in a days time, and hopefully within three days I can submit a screenplay that SEEZAN approves of.