Hansley Ajodha on Infidelity, directing and Trinidad and Tobago's promising film future

A VETERAN of the stage and screen, Hansley Ajodha is one of Trinidad and Tobago's most recognisable actors. But he is also the talent behind the camera, and those talents were on full display with the new film Infidelity.

Ajodha wrote, directed, produced and made a cameo appearance in the thriller about a man plotting to murder his unfaithful wife.

Newsday caught up with him during a screening at Gemstone, CinemaOne, One Woodbrook Place, Port of Spain.

Infidelity is a production of his film company, Golden Eye Productions – he explained the name was inspired by the producers of the popular James Bond film franchise. He pointed out that "Goldeneye" was the name of the Jamaican estate owned by late Bond author Ian Fleming and a 1995 Bond film.

"So I am 'Golden Eye', which is a play on the entire thing."

Ajodha said his family has been involved in movies for a long time: his father was a projectionist at two cinemas in Penal – Sunbeam Cinema and Regent Cinema – in the latter of which his grandfather had a financial interest.

"Movies and acting have always been in my blood. I was on stage extensively with the San Fernando Theatre Workshop. I went on to television, did (soap operas) No Boundaries, Sugar Cane Arrows, (action film) Men of Gray (Flight of the Ibis)."

He recalled a lot of his knowledge and skill came from reading until he met actor, playwright, filmmaker and TTT producer Horace James. All of Ajodha's plays would be broadcast on TTT as part of the Play of the Month series.

"And eventually he came to me and he said, 'I want you to be in No Boundaries.' And with that, Horace then tutored me in all the things that he knew when he went on a scholarship in Great Britain (to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts)."

While shooting No Boundaries, James gave Adjodha the book The Five Cs of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques, by late cinematographer and director Joseph V Mascelli.

"I always had it at the back of my mind that I wanted to direct films. Acting wasn't really my love, you know; it was directing movies and making movies. Because I enjoyed more being behind the camera as opposed to being in front of it."

He said Golden Eye Productions and principal photography on Infidelity started in 2013 with rented equipment from the late O'Neal Davis, whom he worked with on No Boundaries.

"But O'Neal got cancer and we had to shut the film down."

He said he stopped the film temporarily in honour of Davis and then shooting resumed about two and a half years later. After he sold his radio station, Life Radio 99.5 FM Ltd, to conglomerate ANSA McAL, he took the money and bought filmmaking equipment for Golden Eye Productions.

The company began with small documentaries including some for the Parliament Channel, but Ajodha wanted to do feature films.

"Drama was my thing. And I was deeply influenced by directors like Horace James, of course, and Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen Spielberg, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, (and) Guy Ritchie."

He said the reward was to work with actors he thought were better than him.

"People used to go out there and talk that I was the best actor around. And I would tell them, 'No. I was merely more exposed.'

"But I don't think I have the versatility of an Errol 'Blood' Roberts, who you saw play the inspector (in Infidelity), or a Ken Boodhu or Dinesh Maharaj or a Michael Cherrie. I didn't think I was anywhere near these boys. Even though these boys will argue with me, I tell them they are much better than I am.

"So I would rather direct you in things that I conceive within my mind."

He explained with his films every shot, every composition, and the screenplays are all his.

"And for me, being an actor, I understood actors and being on set. So the symbiosis between director and actor was very easy, because we could have spoken to each other."

He said Horace James was the reason "all that happened."

"Because he's my mentor, he's my teacher, he's like my father. He's my second father."

Ajodha said Infidelity, was inspired by the 1952 stage play Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott, which was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock into a 1954 film. He explained the play is set in a living room and he decided to extract the story and change parts of it, "Because it doesn't resemble my film in any way. But I was inspired by the plotline of the key and the mystery surrounding the key. But I took off in a different direction with the entire piece."

He said the most important thing for him was to highlight TT, so he chose to set scenes against the backdrop "of this gorgeous island of ours." The locations include San Fernando Hill, Harry's Water Park in Tabaquite and Magdalena Resort in Tobago.

"If you notice in this movie I took great pains to show us as a beautiful country."

He said his hope is when people watch the film they will want to visit TT and see the locations from the film. He also expressed hope the locations would become iconic, as had happened with some Hollywood films.

"Trinidad must be indelibly etched in your mind after you look at the film,"

He also stressed that he loves this country.

"I had numerous opportunities to leave. I was accepted by the BBC in 1992 and I didn't go. When I finished Men of Gray, the guys asked me to leave and come to LA. And I said, 'No,' and they were angry with me. But I didn't leave.

"This country has been so good to me. Mother TT is the best place to ketch your a--e. And this is the best place in the country to live in."

Ajodha said he has been all over the world and could not live in a country with only one type of people.

"I have a great difficulty living in a country where I can't see a mix of people. And this is the only place that I have that."

He said it was critical for him to present the people of TT "seamlessly" and have all races intermingling in the story of deception, love and betrayal.

"I understand this country. I grew up in San Fernando, the most integrated community in the world probably. And my children are also mixed."

The cast of the film includes Dinesh Maharaj, Errol "Blood" Roberts, Master Leeroy Bruce, Rajendra Bajnathsingh, Joel Joseph, Stephen Furlong and radio personality and singer Kavita Maharajh. Ajodha said he has known Maharajh since they were young actors on stage and he considered Roberts the best actor in Trinidad. He said while Maharajh had never acted before, she was very photogenic and had always wanted to act.

"I told her, 'How about doing this movie?' And she jumped straight into the film."

The cast was a mix of veterans and inexperienced actors. He added he took great pains to ensure all the characters were distinct and separate them as people and then have their lives intertwined.

He hoped people watching the film would be "totally entertained" and would understand him as a filmmaker in the thriller genre with elements of dark comedy.

"It must scare you, it must have you thinking, it must leave you tense."

He said he was the "chief, cook and bottle washer" for the company, as he used his own money to make the film, but expected that to change as Infidelity began making money.

All his films are thrillers, including the upcoming psychological thriller Tales of the Mind.

"I could make an art film just like anybody else. But I believe there must be a reason for people to sit in a theatre and look at your film. You must come out of there experiencing something because movies make you feel good.

"So I'm staying in the genre of thriller."

On the local television and film environment, Ajodha said the technology was much better than when they filmed No Boundaries on a shoestring budget, but advised that codes of proper broadcast product should be used, intelligent stories told and a dignified image portrayed on TV to inspire young people.

"When the media becomes mediocre our people follow suit."

He also advised against following social media, but rather going out and getting the stories and telling more stories "about our people."

He said the current government and FilmTT, under general manager Leslie-Ann Wills-Caton, made him feel for the first time that film was going to advance in this country.

"I have been knocking on the door for a long time and nothing was happening. For the first time, I can safely say that we're going somewhere. And that was why the film became such an ambitious project, because I've decided I will throw my money into it, because I really feel we have people there who could work with us."

He also praised Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon for a listening ear, and the work of CinemaOne CEO Ingrid Jahra in assisting filmmakers.

Ajodha said because of the support he is about to complete his second film and will be taking his third to Tobago.

"Because now I see the possibility that we could make this an industry where we could bring foreign exchange to the country."

He predicted filmmakers will be exporters for TT as the films reach the Caribbean, the diaspora and, internationally, the "grandmothers" of Africa and India, starting with Nigeria. He said the story of Infidelity was a general one that could be enjoyed by anyone anywhere in the world.

He also stressed the need for partnerships in the industry, as he experienced with this film.

"If I fail then the model fails. And we can't fail."

Infidelity has run at CinemaOne for one week so far, and Ajodha said he plans to have it on Digicel as a pay-per-view and on the Caribbean movie-streaming Pavilion+.