I have good news and bad news. First, the good news. As mentioned in my last post, I have submitted the rewritten screenplay to SEEZAN this evening. Bad news is, as the title suggests, the production of VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA has been delayed, indefinitely.

It came to me as a big shock since only few days back, SEEZAN was so eager to start production early next month. He even planned to unveil the cast somewhere around end of this month. He also released a teaser trailer which was shown at the screening of his current production, KARUNAVEE BEYVAFAA (TEARS TURNED UNFAITHFUL).

Why the delay, it’s vague. But I think the main reason was not being able to release the film this year since the one and only cinema for Dhivehi movies is fully booked for the remaining months. So he thought would be a waste of good money to have VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA made with a hefty budget and not making instant money out of it until next year. Even I felt commercial disaster written all over it.

Regardless of the delay or what he’s going to produce next, I have asked him to approve the screenplay of VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA as soon as possible since I want to move on to my next project. He’s going to meet me with his feedback after two days.

I just can’t wait to bid farewell to VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA. My next project awaits…

I completed rewriting VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA last night, but did some polishing even today. No, I am not relieved nor my mind at peace. I have a feeling more rewrites to come once I  submit the rewritten screenplay to SEEZAN later this evening.

What did I rewrite? Like I mentioned in my previous post, I rewrote three existing scenes and added three new scenes that made a smooth bridge to the climax not exactly imagined by SEEZAN but the way I imagined the climax would be fitting in general to the storyline. However, during the rewriting, I went through the whole screenplay from the very first scene to the final scene which I had to because this screenplay happened to be intricate and the scenes interwoven to each other than any other screenplay I have written so far. I had to bring major and minor changes to the dialogue and changes dramatically to several key scenes because they were connected to the three scenes I rewrote. Also the three new scenes had to be linked to other major scenes.

This whole rewriting experience was absolute development hell than I first thought. The most difficult task was after completing the draft which was written as a suspense thriller filled with sleazy characters, on SEEZAN’s request I had to add weeping drama in to it hence shaking the very foundation of the narrative arrangement and thus afflicting the character development. That nearly fried my gray matter. I still hear sizzling sound with in.

I don’t intend to write too much about VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA because I think I need to divert my mind off it. How about praying that I don’t need to do another rewrite? Is that a diversion? Think about the character of SEEZAN is cast to play rides off in to a sea of tears towards the sunset. Oh boy, even the sun is howling!

I guess, for the time being, I can relax until SEEZAN reads the rewrite and asks me to rewrite again by adding more weeping drama. But I just hope to god… NOT!

I am finding myself chasing schedules these days. Production of INGILI is behind schedule. So is rewriting VAFAATHERI KEHIVERIYAA. Latter was a deliberate slowing down though. I need to be more careful with it since a change in the dialogue or an expression of the actors could create a ripple effect on the entire screenplay. That’s why I have decided to spend as much time with each scene I am asked to rewrite. However, the new scenes which I am yet to write could be written at one stretch.

Just now, I have rewritten a scene, the second of three scenes I am asked to rewrite. Previously this scene had one camera shot from start to finish where the scene was blocked nicely. In this scene the character of SEEZAN delivered minimal dialogue and had to flex his acting muscles to the limit. He also had to change his moods several times, enough to put a chameleon  to shame. The scene also demanded the skills of the DOP. But most importantly, the scene allowed the director to shine. Sadly, all that is now lost forever. Mahdi whimpers…

I rewrote that scene the way SEEZAN wanted. His major concern was his character to weep while delivering a page of monologue and the character next to his character weeps alongside. I choose not to comment on this.

But only after rewriting, I realized what SEEZAN really wanted out of this scene. He wanted the audience to emote tears with his character as he weeps. It definitely made me cry,  to change one of my favorite scenes in this screenplay. Mahdi whimpers again…

I am sorry, I need to stop typing this post before my tears short circuit my laptop. More news as I rewrite…

Okay, here’s the bitter truth. We have hit a snag. Things are not going too well for INGILI. Pre-production is hundred times slower than a snail, we are lagging miles behind schedule and we still haven’t found the right location. This sounds not only bad but tragic for a movie that boast only one scene, one location and two actors. What did I tell you, it’s the bitter truth?

Panic button’s been hit and the siren has started blaring. Today we, the production team sans the co-producer/ actor in N. VELIDHOO who is expected to return home tomorrow have decided to speed up the pre-production. Our plan A has failed. Plan B was crashed and burnt yesterday. To bounce back, at an urgent meeting this evening, we have worked on a plan C.

The new plan includes visiting K. GULHI next weekend.  No, this island was not in our location scouting list. Yes, GULHI has better and easy connections than HURAA or MAAFUSHI. So a trip is set and we have contacted some friends there.

Since the whole movie is rain drenched from start to finish, previously we were vague on how to make rain. But in plan C, we have worked that out too, thanks to Ted who came up with an easy design for us. He is giving us tremendous support. He has even agreed to help us on cinematography once the location is confirmed.

Director RAVI is halfway through the storyboards. Once he is finished, we will sit down to work on production dynamics based on his storyboards.

Let’s hope plan C works. If not, there’s still 23 letters left in the English alphabet…

After two days of intensive scouting for location in N. VELIDHOO, co-producer/ actor of INGILI has revealed yesterday that his island of birth hasn’t the right location director RAVI wants. What a real bummer! That means, INGILI is going to slip behind schedule and the actual date to start principal photography will  be rescheduled. The production team will reconvene once he returns on Saturday.

Our sight are now set on K. MAAFUSHI and K. HURAA. We are hoping to find what we are looking for from either of these islands.

Hopefully today, if not surely tomorrow, one of the co-producer slash actor of INGILI will fly down to his island of birth to build the set required for the production of INGILI. We, the production team were unsuccessful at finding a right location director, RAVI has visualized. Since we were skidding behind schedule, location hunting was halted and turned to plan B. We have decided to build the required set that was designed giving careful attention to camera movements. More than anything else, RAVI wants fluidity in his storytelling.

After helming a short film for ETERNAL PICTURES last week, on Monday, RAVI will sit down with his long time cinematographer to start work on INGILI storyboards. He has confirmed 5 days to wrap storyboarding.

We have also confirmed a talent to compose the music for INGILI. All the names including cast will be revealed officially a day before the production starts.

INGILI is being fast tracked for a mid-April shooting and an early June release.

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.