In 2001, Ahmed submitted the film Fangi for the competition, which fetched him the third award for Best Film and the first award for Best Director. It also holds the record of maximum wins, by winning six out of seven categories. The film narrates lives of several individuals get interconnected making them realize the suffering of each other and helping them to come to terms with each other's own grief. The following year, he developed the historical film 3 November which is based on the 1988 Maldives coup d'état attempt. It fetched him the second award for Best Director at Office Teledrama Competition.
