By Rabindra Rooplall

ALL is set to roll for the local drama, “Protection Game”, featuring veteran Guyanese actor Mahadeo Shivraj, who has directed over 30 plays.

He is set to captivate his audience once again as he acts, produces and directs another blockbuster movie.
In Somnauth Narine’s “Protection Game”, the father, played by Shivraj, must decide whether to operate within the confines of the law by using the services of a high-priced lawyer, or operate outside the law. It all comes down to: How far will a father go to protect his son?
In this murder mystery heightened with suspense and risqué West Indian humour, love, devotion, and adherence to law, the storyline has garnered a high-profile cast, and is expected to blow the Guyanese public away.
Explaining how this murder-mystery suspense-thriller came about, Shivraj said Narine is a close friend who is an extremely talented writer.
He said it was Narine who conceptualised the storyline and after just a month of writing, premiered the finished work.
“He discussed with me what he was thinking about, and I just thought it was really good. All of my movies fall into different genres and I like change; I like something different,” Shivraj said.

Shivraj described the film as filled with West Indian humour, love, devotion and adherence to law.
After the script was finished Shivraj began doing his bit; he began hunting for persons who would fit the nearly 30 speaking roles. He admitted that finding cast members to fit the characters had not been difficult. He shared that, when asked, everyone was enthusiastic to be a part of his latest project.
The film will be shot in Guyana and is the first of Shivraj’s films to be shot entirely in the city. His others had been primarily focused on the country areas of Guyana. A third of the movie is set to take place in the High Court while there will also be a lot of scenes in police stations. He noted that the actual shooting takes the least amount of time while the planning and editing takes up the majority of time.
Nonetheless, Shivraj is already looking forward and is hoping to release the movie sometime in late May next year, preferably on or the day before Guyana celebrates its Independence Day anniversary.
Shivraj stressed that the movie would be dedicated to the people of Guyana.
Some of the actors include: Businessman Roshan Khan who plays the Judge Jadwah, Chronicle’s very own Akash Persaud who acts as prosecutor Baldeo, Ron Robinson is the Defense Lawyer, Michael Ignatius as Ravi, renowned actress Margaret Lawrence, well-known playwright Godfrey Naughton, Max Massiah, Nirmala Narine amongst others.
The movie is presently in shooting stage and Shivraj expresses confidence in its success. He explained that over the years, the level of support he had been expecting never surfaced.
He said too that the lack of copyright laws was also a concern of his and controlled the amount of money he made. “When you put your movie on DVD it is pirated so there are no real returns,” he said.
He continued, “So I’ve just kept asking over and over again for my movies to be endorsed as a product of Guyana so that others can pick it up and make it big; with endorsement it can reach a wider audience, even head out into the Diaspora. Many people here don’t know about my movies still, even though I’ve made five.”
He said too that support from corporate sources is also difficult. While there had been persons over the years who have responded positively with donations, Shivraj said that he has been the one providing the majority of funds for his films. But while such a reality would daunt the spirits of other persons, Shivraj is determined to keep pushing himself and promoting his country through his work.
In 2010, he made his debut as a film director/producer with the movie “Till I Find a Place,” which was filmed entirely in Guyana and received rave reviews. He subsequently produced, directed, and starred in three more films, “A Jasmine for a Gardener”, “Brown Sugar Too Bitter for me”, and “83 Million Gees”, all of which received good reviews from critics and audience alike.