Bahraini musician Abdulla Mahmood aka Whatsmahmood has ventured into filmmaking with his debut release set in Manama.
The 13-minute bilingual film ‘Furjaan Al Bahrain’ (Arabic for Bahrain’s neighbourhoods) is accompanied by a namesake single, the artist’s third offering as ‘Whatsmahmood’, bringing alive the story of a washed-up detective trying to crack a case for the last 13 years.
Moving forward, the creative wants to be committed to storytelling and artistic exploration, offering audiences a richer, more immersive experience.
“I’m done creating superficial music videos and now I’m focusing on giving the audience a little more value with the things I create,” Whatsmahmood, 30, told the GDN.
“I plan to release a short film alongside each of my monthly releases this year,” the writer, director and editor, who also stars in the film as the main detective, added.
The Riffa resident, who also pursues a full-time career in the creative and regional music industries, decided on Manama as the backdrop because he grew up there and thought it would be ‘funny and relatable’. The film was shot over three months at various locations, including the Oriental Palace Hotel in Manama, some streets around Bahrain, and a few houses.
“There was a lot of work that made me realise how difficult filmmaking is. As the director, I had to create a balance between my vision and the actors’ idea of the character so we could get the most authentic personality on the screen. I learned some valuable lessons along the way: plan, don’t improvise; be more structured while managing and set longer timelines, especially if you’re handling a lot for the project.
Significant
“Though challenging, the experience was fun experience thanks to my supportive friends especially my right hand man Moayyed (Almoayyed). It was our first big project together. As cousins, we pretty much grew up together. He was truly instrumental in the writing process but played a significant role in the videography – it was all him. Someone who I trusted completely because he gets my vision and is a man of great taste,” he added.
The cast includes a diverse group of Bahrain-based talents aged 25 up to 50; American expatriate and engineer Colin Andrews; Dutch consultant Anne van der Meer, Saudi American and special needs school music therapist Sami Al Qatari; US naval officer Mike Donnovan and Italian chef Renzo Fratellani.
“Some of the cast members are my close friends, who thought it might be fun to do. One of the main characters, Mike, is someone I didn’t know well before, but has ended up being such a dear friend to me. He gave one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, speaking another language (Arabic) from scratch. The lead actress’ audition turned out to be on a shooting day and Anne instantly impressed us and was cast.”
The self-taught musician penned down the song before he did the script. The former has been produced by Bahrain-based Sean Fernandes aka Monsoonfortwo. The lyrics entail
Whatsmahmood asking ‘where are you from’, followed by the response ‘the neighbourhoods of Bahrain’.
“Sean is an incredible producer and we have worked together in several projects for Whatsmahmood but also beyond that throughout the years. I owe it all to him for always believing in me and the music.
“Though there’s no much depth to the lyrics, they fit with the theme of the film and complement the vibe of the story,” he added.
Furjaan Al Bahrain, the film, is available on YouTube and the song on most streaming platforms including, Apple Music and Spotify.
Whatsmahmood’s creative repertoire spans 16 years and comprises an ‘archived’ set of 13 albums, 88 songs and five collaboration.
“So there are songs that I’ve composed and recorded but taken down in order to focus on this new rebranded solo project – Whatsmahmood. They might be redone and published in the future,” he noted.
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