Sazaa (2011 film)

Kid Productions and Fariva Films acquired the story rights from Mariyam Moosa.[4] Shortly before their scheduled departure to film in B. Maalhos, director Hussain Munawwar entrusted the script to Mahdi Ahmed for refinements.[4] Ahmed proposed a complete rewrite of the screenplay to enhance character development, ultimately delivering a more engaging cinematic experience.[4] Munawwar, recognizing the potential improvements, postponed the crew's departure by an additional fifteen days to accommodate Ahmed's revisions.[4] While preserving the fundamental plot, Ahmed overhauled the screenplay by introducing significant changes to character arcs, culminating in a surprising twist at the story's conclusion.[4] He completed this substantial rewrite within a week and returned the screenplay to Munawwar.[4]

Just two days before the scheduled departure, director Munawwar faced challenges in accommodating certain requests from the original cast.[4] Acting on the advice of the film's technical consultant, Mohamed Niyaz, Munawwar made significant changes to the cast.[4] These changes included bringing in Ismail Rasheed to play the role of the villain and casting Lufshan Shakeeb in the lead role.[4] This film marks Shakeeb's only appearance as the lead actor in a feature film.[4]

The film crew embarked on their journey to B. Maalhos for filming on 22 April 2010, equipped with the initial two parts of the screenplay.[4] During this time, Ahmed continued working on the remaining arc of the screenplay in Male'.[4] The filming process was successfully wrapped up within a month, and the crew returned to Male' on 26 May 2010.[4]

The editing process for the film was initiated by director Hussain Munawwar, who divided the project into seven components.[4] After completing the first component, Munawwar assigned the editing of the remaining six parts to Ali Musthafa.[4] However, while Musthafa was working on the fifth file, it became corrupted. Munawwar insisted that Musthafa continue working on the next two files and then rework on the first and fifth files afterward.[4] Musthafa successfully completed the editing of the five functional files on 22 August 2010, and they were subsequently handed over to Mohamed Niyaz from Eternal Pictures for color-grading.[4] The entire editing and dubbing process for the film was finalized by 10 September 2010.[4] Sound mixing and recording were managed by Mohamed Ikram.[4]