In 2011 actor Sanjiv Boodhu starred in the award-winning Trinidadian-Canadian short film, Doubles with Slight Pepper, and following its release there were discussions of a feature-length follow-up. But he had no idea he would be returning to the role more than a decade later.
He stars in the narrative drama, Doubles, which will have its Caribbean premiere at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (TTFF) Opening Night Gala on September 20. The film is by Canadian-born, award-winning film director and screenwriter, Ian Harnarine, and centres on a Trinidadian street vendor (played by Boodhu) who must travel to Toronto and decide if he will help save his estranged father from dying. For Boodhu, the role is the culmination of some 26 years of acting.
[caption id="attachment_1035919" align="alignnone" width="540"] Sanjiv Boodhu in a scene from Doubles. -[/caption]
He and his elder brother Rajiv (who also appears in Doubles together with his cousin Kala Neehall) grew up watching their father, veteran actor Kenneth Boodhu, on stage with the long-running Strolling Players Theatre Company. The brothers would be taken to performances every weekend.
"Growing up with an actor as a father, it was normal for us to gravitate to the stage."
Child Stroller
He began his career at age six and was coached by late Strolling Players founder and celebrated playwright Freddie Kissoon and by his father. Boodhu recalled his first memory of being on stage was a Strolling Players performance at the then Arima Senior Comprehensive. His job was to sing the national anthem before a "massive audience." Due to nerves, he could not start his performance, but a teacher came out and held his hand which gave him the encouragement to begin.
Boodhu's duties would soon be upgraded to acting and he appeared as the character Sonny Kissoon's most well-known play Zingay, which follows a married couple who believe their child is the victim of black magic. He would play several father/son roles with his father over the years in stages across Trinidad, including in Mayaro, Rio Claro, Blanchisseuse, and at City Hall in Port of Spain. He described Kissoon, who died in 2016, as a brilliant man.
"A visionary. Extraordinarily intelligent and a disciplinarian."
He added that he would not tolerate rudeness or drinking and was very organised. Boodhu credited him with bringing a lot of discipline into his life.
"I am certainly a better human being having been taught by Freddie Kissoon"
And how was the experience as a young actor?
"It was an absolute wonder. And it was something natural, as I would see my father do it every weekend. It was normal. I did not know other people were not involved in theatre and drama."
Boodhu also appeared as a student in the play School Project written and directed by his father and co-starring his cousin Tamara Dolsingh.
[caption id="attachment_1035916" align="alignnone" width="689"] Actor Sanjiv Sanjiv Boodhu is also an attorney and a businessman. -[/caption]
For the next 15 years, Boodhu had over 50 stage pe
