Anthony Maharaj

Anthony Maharaj literally grew up in film industry. His parents were pioneers in the Indian film industry in Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname in the early 1940's, with movies such as "Mother India", "Aan" and "Sindoor" to name a few. At the age of 17, Maharaj had the opportunity to work for Paramount Pictures and MGM in Guyana. In 1965, the advertising for the release of classic David Lean film, "Dr. Zhivago", was done by Maharaj. The campaign won MGM's Latin American Award for Best Movie Campaign. Over the years, Maharaj's passion for the film industry was evident. He was Assistant Director on Harbance Kumar's first feature film shot in Trinidad, titled "The Right and the Wrong" (1970) which copped an Atlanta Golden Medal Award, followed by "The Caribbean Fox". In 1972, he was Associate Director of the Dutch (shot on location in Suriname & Guyana) film, "Operation Makonaima". In the mid-1970's Maharaj established his own film distribution company, Anthony Maharaj & Associate Films Limited (AMA Films), and distributed films for companies such as Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers from the Chinese and Hong Kong markets, as well as Morgan Creek, Samuel Goldwyn, Manson International, O'rion Pictures and other independents from the U.S. and U.K. His distribution covered the Caribbean and part of the South American territories. Major titles under his distribution included "Jesus of Nazareth", "Dirty Dancing", "Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves" and "The Last of the Mohicans". Following the establishment of a successful film distribution company, Maharaj decided to pursue his obsession for film as a writer, producer and director. This led to the formation of Cariphil Pictures based in the Philippines. His strength as a director, producer and writer impressed production and distribution companies such as Thorn EMI for "Final Mission" , Orion Pictures for "Naked Vengeance", Vestron for "Spear of Destiny" (also known as "Future Hunters" starring Robert Patrick) and Nelson Entertainment for "NAM", starring Richard Norton. Maharaj completed eighteen feature films, including "Rage" for Cannon Films and 21st Century Film Corporation. Within the Indo-Caribbean communities of the region, AMA Films became a household name for movies out of Bollywood. Popular culture in the local Indo community cites AMA Films as the entity responsible for the resurgence of the Indian cinema industry in Trinidad, with its release of "1942: A Love Story", "Mohra" and others. Although film distribution remained a priority for Maharaj, he returned to Trinidad with the intention of developing the local film industry. He worked as Associate Producer on Merchant & Ivory's film adaptation of V.S. Naipaul's award-winning novel, "Mystic Masseur". Maharaj also produced, directed and wrote three feature films shot entirely on location in Trinidad and Tobago: "Innocent Adultery", starring cast members of the award winning soap operas "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "The Young and the Restless"; "Secrets of the Shell", and "Satan's Daughter". "Secrets of the Shell" received accolades with the prestigious honour of being selected as opening feature film at the Belize Film Festival in 2002. In 2005, Maharaj was approached by Bollywood Awards Incorporated to co-produce that year's Bollywood Music Awards ceremony. Appearing at this event were Indian playback singers Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu and host of other playback singers. Following the great success of the event, he decided to produce the Bollywood Movie Awards in 2006. Akshay Kumar, Urmila Matondkar and Manisha Koirala appeared; Zeenat Aman and Rajesh Khanna were presented with "Lifetime Achievement" awards at this event. Both shows were staged in Maharaj's homeland of Trinidad, having previously been hosted in Dubai, the U.K. and North America. In 2007, Maharaj was Executive Producer of the Shah Rukh Khan/Sushmita Sen Bollywood movie, "Dulha Mil Gaya", shot on location in Trinidad and Tobago and India. As Executive Producer, Maharaj once again proved that Trinidad and Tobago is fertile for film productions that can put us in the first-world arena. In another portfolio, Maharaj's role as Producer of the Plymouth Jazz Festival brought him great merit with the music festival being named by Forbes Traveler magazine as "one of the world's coolest music festivals on planet Earth." The festival featured world renowned artistes including Stevie Wonder, Sting, Shakira, Diana Ross, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Rod Stewart and Sir Elton John, to name a few. Maharaj developed the festival from inception to its fourth staging in 2008 which proved that there is room for entertainment tourism in Trinidad and Tobago, despite the infrastructural challenges facing the local industry. On August 31st 2012, for the 50th Anniversary of Trinidad & Tobago's Independence, Maharaj was awarded the National Humming Bird Gold Medal by the President of Trinidad & Tobago for his contribution to local culture. Maharaj's passion for the entertainment business also expanded into radio and television. He is presently the Owner, Executive Chairman of Caribbean Lifestyle Communications (2009) Limited, which is comprised of four radio stations (Music Radio 97.1 FM, Ebony 104.1 FM, Radio 90.5 FM, and Heartbeat Radio for Women 103.5 FM), one TV station (I.E. TV Cable Channel 1 - which was reformatted last year to become Trinidad and Tobago's first Indo-entertainment television station) and VA Films - A Film & Video Production Company and Caribbean Lifestyle Productions which focuses on Feature Films and Events.