Mahdi Ahmed

Scripting waves of imagination from the sunny side of the Maldives.

Posts by mahdiahmed

INGILI TRAILER AND THE FINAL TEST SCREENING

Last night we concluded the test screening of INGILI (Finger). Our selected guests were veteran filmmaker Mohamed Hilmy from whom I have learnt a lot on making films, Mohamed Munthasir aka Munco who is a renowned theatre actor/writer/director/producer and finally Ahmed Shakeeb who is a film producer and owner of film studio, Movie Maldives.

After the show, Munco tweeted, ‘Attended a preview night of INGILI tonight, I enjoyed it and the effort was good. Like the flow and feel. Hope to watch it in theatres soon. Thanx for the invitation guys.’

Later Hilmy on his facebook status updated, ‘Last night I attended the preview of short film INGILI (finger) I would say it is a good gamble which will give confidence to new thinking & experimental films. I congratulate Ravi & Mahdi. Keep going, my best wishers are with you.’

On behalf of INGILI production team, our sincere gratitude goes to Hilmy, Munco and Shakeeb.

Based on the constructive feedback of last night, Ravee did few trimmings here and there this evening. The film looks better now, much better!

The shooting of Traphic Jam music video is getting a bit delayed due to their busy schedule. And if we can’t shoot it before 23rd of this month, then we have to wrap it up during the first week of March. The official premier of the film is scheduled for 9th March.

As promised, below is a link to the new trailer of INGILI aired on Filmy Udhares of TVM on 8th February 2013. Your comments are most welcomed.

http://youtu.be/VNDSwpaNilE

Cheers!

ALL ABOUT INGILI

‘I was thrilled to watch Dhivehi film, INGILI. It’s a must-see.’ Those were the very words tweeted by Kayano from the popular local band Traphic Jam right after watching a preview of the movie. Kayano’s friend, Naaif who also watched the preview tweeted, ‘Breakaway from local movie stereotypes for sure. Thanks for the screening.’ The pleasure is all ours, I mean the producers.

Yesterday, the producers held a meeting with a very important person who helped the production in many ways. We discussed on premiering the movie in K. Gulhi, the very island where we had the shooting. The producers have decided to donate the ticket sales of the premiere night to the school fund of the island. This is the first time any Dhivehi film is doing such a thing. We thought we couldn’t have wrapped up INGILI (Finger) without the help of the youth of K. Gulhi. And this was the best we can do for them in return.

Director Ravee has started the color grading work of INGILI. He’s aided by CGI genius, Ahmed Shinan. Ravee is set to complete the task in ten days.

Meanwhile the shooting of music video Ingili by Traphic Jam is being planned together with the band. The music video will be featured in the end credits of the film.

As planned the new trailer of INGILI will be released on coming Friday on TVM’s Filmee Udhares. The trailer will be made available on both facebook pages of the program and the movie. And I will be uploading it on youtube and on this blog as well. So stay tuned.

Cheers!

A WORKING TITLE AND A NEW TRAILER

A brand new trailer of INGILI (Finger) is all set to be released on February 8th 2013 on TVM’s Filmee Udhares. This trailer will feature the promotional song, Ingili performed by Traphic Jam especially for the film. This song marks the band’s first song for any Dhivehi film. As for the new trailer, it looks terrific and is aimed at youth. I sincerely hope that this trailer will restore their faith in Dhivehi cinema. Fingers crossed.

In other news, the opening title sequence of INGILI was completed last night. CGI maestro, Ahmed Shinan was commissioned to do the task which director Ravee has already seen and concluded as simply awesome. I will get to see the sequence on Saturday.

Also staying with INGILI, producer Munavvaru and I will be having a meeting on Saturday with an important person who helped the production greatly to discuss the preparation of premiering INGILI. Most of the details are still under wraps so I won’t be talking much on this topic. But one thing I can reveal is this. A date has been set for the premiere. I will go more into the details once the date is made official with the release of the new trailer. What’s the point in talking about it afterwards, I guess.

I mentioned in my recent post, PILLOW TALK about my newest writing gig that was re-outlined with my wife, well, guess what? I have given it a working title as LOABEEGE AGU (Price of Love). Two days ago I have started rewriting it. I’ve already completed 18 scenes and the rewritten part looks rock solid than the draft.

Meanwhile the draft was based on a real incident which was witnessed by the producer who commissioned me to write it, the re-write has a similar plot but is based on an incident happened to a cousin of my wife. So the re-write is going to be very different. And oh that reminds me, I have a major scene to write. Please excuse me from this post, for now.

Cheers!

CALCULATING INGILI (FINGER)

Late yesterday evening, the three producers of INGILI (Finger) met with an entrepreneur at West Park to discuss if he was interested in the theatrical and DVD distribution of the film. Unlike any other meeting we have had so far, this meeting contained numerical figures and calculations, I mean lots of both. I think we must have had spent about 45 or more minutes with the calculators of our smart phones.

To be honest, at first I was lost, thanks to my impressive mathematic skills when I was in school. The teachers ran out of starts and gave me full moons. Anyway, after a lot of explanation, I did start to understand the mathematical work outs. We wrapped up the meeting with this entrepreneur showing strong signs of, well, drumrolls, taking up the distribution. Fingers crossed.

In this meeting we have also agreed to fast track INGILI for a February premiere. Yay! We do have an agreed date but it will be made official somewhere in early February. Finally! But before that, we still have so much work to do. Producer/ director Ravee will be coming up with a schedule to shoot the music video of the song aptly titled ‘INGILI’ performed especially for the film by Traphic Jam, the most popular heavy metal band in Maldives. This music video will be used in the end credits of the film.

A night ago, Ravee invited a popular music couple for a test screening of INGILI. Their feedback has really raised our spirits. They never expected the film to be entertaining. Both of them agreed the film never had a dull moment despite the story taking place in one location with just two actors. The husband who is both a good critique and an ardent Dhivehi film lover said that INGILI is the best Dhivehi film he has seen so far. Whoops! I’m getting lifted from my chair…

Cheers!

PILLOW TALK

Last night my wife and I had the strangest of pillow talks. I discussed with her on my next writing gig. Now, does that kind of talk ever qualify as pillow talk? I guess a talk will always be a talk and when you are lying on a pillow talking, what else can it be called other than a pillow talk?

My next project actually is rewriting a draft screenplay written by Zareer, my writing partner and myself several years ago for a once very active studio, now a very dead volcano. For reasons I’m unaware of, they somehow failed to settle our payment. So this draft has been lying on the shelf collecting dust and spreading with cobwebs.

Then earlier this month Coco Hassan, a good friend of mine who’s a renowned cinematographer in the local film industry called me. He said a newbie producer was interested in producing a film and wanted to meet me on writing a screenplay. The very next day we met.

I mentioned to them about this draft which was loosely based on a real incident that my original client witnessed firsthand. Then they asked me if my original client would agree on the deal since it was loosely based on their story. To answer this issue, I return to my pillow talk once again.

A similar incident which was more related to the screen story of my draft actually happened to a cousin of my wife. And it happened quite recently and some part of it I have witnessed with my very own eyes. That’s why I asked my wife to relate everything she could recall of the incident including the background of everyone involved.

As I lay next to her holding her hand, when she began, all I had to do was close my eyes. The way my wife narrated the whole story was like watching a movie. When she was done, we both then discussed on molding the events in the draft to the events she had narrated. It was the most beautiful screenplay outlining I have ever done so far.

However, I knew something was not right when my wife was agreeing to whatever I was suggesting. She’s always on her critique mode whenever she deals with my screenplays. She’d cut it, dice it, mince it, grill it and burn it. But this time it wasn’t happening until the very climax. That’s when she pulled out her knife set at me. She disagreed to the ending. Then I asked her how she would want it. The ending she suggested was simply terrific. Then we both tweaked the ending here and there. After the whole session was over, she asked me the usual question, ‘buney?’ meaning ‘say it.’ And as usual I gave a kiss on her cheeks, a big squeeze and said, ‘Thanks honey!’

Cheers!

PLAY SCHOOL, A PREVIEW AND THIS IS A PROMISE

Yesterday I completed the final episode of the last five episodes I was commissioned to write of VAUDHEKEY MIEE (THIS IS A PROMISE), the thirteen episodes television series that’s being directed by Abdul Fatthaah which was started airing on TVM few weeks back.

I’m collaborating with Fatthaah at writing a serial or anything for that matter after almost five long years since the popular series HINITHUNVELAASHEY KALAA (SMILE, YOU). And it feels good to be writing couple of episodes for him once again. And I’m still aware of his style and craft. The current serial is very much his cup of tea and I have given him enough scenes he can direct even with his eyes closed.

In the last five episodes, I tried as much as I can to tie up the loose ends of the first eight episodes he had written. He wanted the final episode to be a real tearjerker and I have created so many situations where the actors can cry themselves so much that if need be, they can dry up their tear glands by the time the serial ends and long after the end credits roll.

Fatthaah has already read the four episodes and confirmed them good. As long as he’s happy, I’m happy.

Last Friday night, the producers of INGILI, they are in no particular order, Ravee, Munavvaru and myself held a preview of the film for selected guests. After the show was over, we all had a good chat and listened to their feedback. Ravee was busy taking notes. Most of the feedback was positive and they all enjoyed the film which was restricted to a small hut with just two actors for the entire duration of the movie. Everyone praised the lively conversation of the two actors.

The very next day director Ravee made corrections to the final edit based on the very constructive comments given by the selected guests.

The three producers met yesterday to discuss on the final preparation of the movie. The main agenda was negotiating with a high profile studio for theatrical and DVD distribution of the film. The owner of this studio was eager to make a deal and will give us an answer inside this week.

We are hoping to release INGILI on February.

I have left the best for the last. As parents, the most exciting thing that happened to my wife and I were taking our son to school for the first time. The academic year started on January 14th and as the day drew closer, we were dreading the thought of taking him to school. It was an unexplainable fear that was creeping inside both of us ever since we enrolled him. But my son was feeling quite the opposite. He was very eager to start his very first play school.

He was in top form when he got ready. He was dancing and smiling and teasing with his cousin who was a year older and was starting junior nursery at the same school. The story was completely different once he entered his class. He started weeping. Infact all the kids were crying. The play school was more appropriate to be called the crying school. The whole of last week he went to school, well, he cried in the class. But with each day, he’s adjusting himself to his class, his teachers and his classmates. And he cries a lot less now.

So before I start to weep a tear or two, I say Cheers!

THIS IS A PROMISE, I WRITE

After carefully going through the already written eight episodes of VAUDHEKEY MIEE (THIS IS A PROMISE) which was written and being directed by Abdul Fatthaah, I have started writing the remaining five episodes. A little while ago, I just finished episode nine.

But I must confess that outlining the last five was not an easy task than I first thought it would be. Mostly when I outlined, I was forced to tie up several loose ends. And even in the last five episodes I had to redefine some of the key characters. Since the first four episodes were already shot, I didn’t have much choice to tweak the other written four episodes which goes behind the camera on 10th of this month. I wanted to do few adjustments here and there but realized that doing so would require rewriting all of them, meaning I won’t be able to complete them when the production resumes.

So I decided to leave them as it is and continue outlining the last five. I had to do a lot of research which again was done very little in the already written eight episodes. I hope to complete at least episode ten and eleven before Fatthaah leaves with his cast and crew to Eydhafushi of Baa Atoll. To do that I have only two days. And I have roughly a week to complete all five.

So without spending too much time, I cut short this post for now and turn my focus to write episode ten.

Cheers!

DAY ONE OF 2013

It’s only the first day of 2013 and I’m already finding myself occupied with work. Here are the updates.

I’m commissioned to complete the remaining five episodes of a thirteen episodes television serial called VAUDHEKEY MIEE (This is a Promise) which was started writing by director Abdul Fatthah for TVM. He is also directing it. He has already completed shooting the first four episodes and will sail out to the islands to shoot the other four. So before he completes the production, I need to write the rest which is also based on the same island.

Fatthah and I go long way back with television serials. The most serials I have written are for him especially HINITHUNVELAASHEY KALAA (Smile, You) of fifty two episodes which had a nationwide following and most of its episodes had an island setting.

He has given me a short deadline for the current task and I have the most difficult of hurdles to cross, reading the eight episodes he has written. Did I ever mention in any of my previous posts that I hate reading? Yes, I do, big time.

Then there’s a new producer whom I met last night through a good friend of mine. He asked me to write a full feature which is set to begin production around March. Fortunately, I  have a draft screenplay which I co-wrote with my writing partner, Ahmed Zareer for a production company who’s yet to pay us for our work. It’s been two years since then. However, this screenplay never saw the light of pre-production and was eventually shelved. Somewhere last year, I remember asking for their approval that I pitch it for a different producer. They did give me green light, verbally though. Anyway, I have mailed this draft to this new producer. I’m expected to have a feedback in a week’s time.

Then there’s another screenplay under a similar spell which has been shelved for three long years. But for this one, I have got the approval in writing, via the SMS I have exchanged with its producer. This screenplay is on standby to a high profile actor/ director/ producer who wants a screenplay real soon in case he doesn’t get the screenplay he asked from my writing partner Ahmed Zareer delivered before the short deadline.

Well, that’s all for now.

Cheers!

HELLO 2013

Adios 2012. And hello 2013. I wish all my fellow bloggers a fabulous year ahead. Let there be peace, love and understanding in this world not just this year but until the end of time. But most importantly, keep blogging!

Cheers!

A DIVINE INTERVENTION

This post is long and is based on an account written by my wife on the same event.

December 16th of this year marked our eighth wedding anniversary. Unlike previous years where we celebrated just by ourselves, this time around, our son joined us. Since he’s only twenty-one months, we had an early dinner. Having him by our side, we felt a simple mutual realisation. He completes us.

Sitting here, while typing this post, when I look back at our beautiful marriage, to be honest, it seems to me that if not for our perseverance at trying to save each other some eleven days after we tied our knot, we wouldn’t have made this far, let alone blessed with an adorable son. While trying, not only did we save each other, but we also saved our marriage, with immeasurable help from an unlikeliest of sources.

Five days after we got married, we went to Patong, Phuket for our honeymoon. We stayed at Patong Resort. During our four nights’ stay there, we toured the city, visited important places and ate all we could from the famous restaurants. While Savoey was a standout seafood place, Simon Cabaret we thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any Bonds on James Bond Island.

Our departure from Phuket to Bangkok was on Boxing day at noon. Since it was our last day in Phuket, my wife insisted on going for one final walk along the Beach Road. I wanted to stay at the hotel lobby surfing the internet, but somehow I changed my mind. Unlike previous days, my wife carried our tickets, passports and all the cash in her handbag. Before that, we kept them in the safe of our room.

At around eight, we were walking down the Beach Road. It was a bit windy. The beach was almost empty. Though it was intended as a walk, my wife checked into some of the few shops that were opened. When we had walked quite a distance away from our hotel, my wife stopped by a bikini shop.

As my wife was paying for her stuff to the vendor who was a middle-aged woman, suddenly a girl dashed into the shop. She started talking to the woman frantically. Though we didn’t understand a word they were saying, we noticed the girl was in a panic and the woman reacting to her in fear.

We immediately knew something was amiss. We first thought a terrible accident had happened. Then the girl and the woman dashed out of the shop. They hurried towards the beach. By then, we started to hear people shouting in fear and the sound was beginning to intensify by the minute. We too ran out of the shop. We wanted to see what was happening. People were looking at the beach, while those who were at the beach were running inland. From the point we were standing, we didn’t notice anything strange. Then suddenly, through the line of trees, we saw a yellow speed boat sweeping towards the shore followed by another big boat.

Stupidly enough, I wanted to check it out, courtesy of a common trait we fellow Maldivians have. We always run towards the danger, not away from it. But my wife, who was working in UNDP, had done some security training, grabbed my hand and ran into the closest road. Seeing the boats coming ashore, she thought it was a terrorist attack. All this happened in a flash.

By then tourists and locals were coming out of their hotels and shops and running away from the beach. We also kept running through a lane, not knowing what disaster was behind us. We never looked back and were expecting the sound of gunfire or a bomb blast any second.

Then my wife had the idea of taking cover. She hurried to enter a nearby hotel. But a security guard there was already chasing everyone out. He kept screaming, “Waves!” That’s when we both realised what was happening. That scared us even more. We knew the only way to be safe from a wave was to reach higher ground. We could see hills ahead of us. But to reach there, we needed more running, a lot more running and we had to run faster.

There was complete panic on the road. People were shouting. Children were crying. The sound of car horns and tires screeching was deafening. We knew whatever happened, and we could not separate. So we held on to each other’s hands firmly.

A pickup truck racing by us stopped. The driver shouted at us to hop on to the back. Some locals were already in it. The truck carried fish. It raced towards the hills. After driving through some roads and lanes, it stopped at the bottom of a steep road leading to the hills. Everyone in it jumped out and started to run to the top. We reached up to the settlements on the hill very quickly. We felt that that wasn’t enough. A wave could rise even higher. So we climbed further up. As we gazed towards the horizon, the buildings blocked any clear view of the Beach Road.

Throughout the trip, we had had a mobile phone. I always charged it every night. My wife first called her office instead of informing our parents. We didn’t want to panic them. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get a connection. The network was busy. Then my wife called her officemate on her mobile. She couldn’t reach her, either. Then she sent her an SMS, which she was able to send.

A few minutes later, my wife’s officemate replied with the horrifying news that panicked us even more. The Maldives was experiencing similar waves. We completely froze. We never had a clue how Maldivians could escape such a wave as the Maldives were just a few meters above sea level.

We had to be cautious with the phone’s battery power since we never knew how long we were going to be marooned on this hill. We left the phone charger at the hotel. So we made most of our communications through SMS.

At one point we even thought of going to the airport since we had the tickets, passports and all our money. But we dropped that idea when we learnt that the airport was shut down.

After staying on the hill for quite some time, we then approached a window of a local house where everyone was gathering. They were watching CNN. Reports were coming in that many countries in the Indian Ocean were severely hit, including the Maldives.

Later we stayed on the balcony of a small eat-out place. There were injured tourists. Some were crying over their loved ones who had gone missing. Their faces were as lifeless, scared and confused as ours were.

We could hear sirens wailing in the distance and helicopters were hovering over the beach area. The tourists around us kept calling their embassies and news came that their embassies were going to extract them from wherever they were. We started to panic. There was neither a Maldivian embassy nor anyone else coming to help us. We were on our own. We tried our best not to worry since we were thankful that we were still alive.

When it was around six in the evening, we could see from our vantage that a big grid of the beach area was completely blacked out. Some of the tourists decided to go back to their hotels. However, along with an Australian couple and two English girls we befriended, we decided to stay put since it would be too dangerous to go back when there was no electricity, and there were warnings now and then of another wave hit.

When night fell, we tried to get a room from nearby inns and hotels. Unfortunately, there weren’t any available. We had no place to sleep. But a local couple from one of the houses invited us to relax on their veranda along with ten or more stranded tourists. We were provided with blankets and sheets.

We could barely sleep. No one did. It felt like the longest night of our lives. I held my wife tightly as I could. Now and then we burst into tears, we cried, and we prayed.

Next day, at five in the morning, our four friends and we decided to head back to our respective hotels. We all got into a tuk-tuk that approached right at us. It first stopped at the hotel of our four friends. They stayed at Boomerang Inn. For some reason, we felt unfortunate to wave them goodbye. And I think they felt the same as they kept looking at us, looking worried. The driver then headed towards our hotel. But he dropped us at the junction of the main street. He was scared to go any further.

As we strolled towards our hotel, we saw everything around us destroyed. Jet skis and speed boats had crashed into buildings. Trucks and cars had turned over. There were fallen trees and buildings were heavily damaged. The road felt all sticky and muddy.

At our hotel’s lobby, worried guests were already checking out. Everyone was in a hurry. We followed a bellboy to our room to get our luggage. As we passed the poolside, the whole place was like a disposal site, including the pool which was filled with mud.

We took our luggage which had survived the waves and checked out of the hotel immediately. We waited at the lobby for a taxi. When we realised we wouldn’t get any, we decided to walk to the main street and get one.

We planned to go to the airport and stay there no matter what happened. We imagined the airport would be crowded. But amazingly when we reached there, the place was calm. More surprisingly, we even managed to get seats on the first flight to Bangkok.

We arrived in Bangkok, safe and sound. At the arrival gates, there were embassy representatives from almost all the countries except ours. From the airport we went straight to the hotel we had booked. While at the lobby, we went through the newspapers and only then did we understand the destruction of the tsunami and mostly how lucky we were to have survived.

We checked into our room, called our home and informed them we were safe. That’s when our mobile went dead.

We only realised the magnitude of the devastation and lives lost when we switched on the TV. The death toll kept rising. Phuket airport was now crowded with terrified tourists wanting to leave. And seeing footage of the devastation, we burst into tears. We were scared, disoriented and traumatised.

As today marks eight years since the devastating Asian tsunami, I am forever thankful for my wife. If not for her quick thinking, unbeknownst of what it was first, to drag me away from the beach, we would have certainly perished. She will always be my hero: sorry Marvel, sorry DC.

We believe that God saved us. Others might say what happened to us was nothing but a coincidence. But we consider our escape a miracle, a divine intervention.

Cheers!