Ashok Amritraj: India was not in fashion in Hollywood 30 years ago

Highlights

• From being a tennis star, to a successful Hollywood producer, Ashok Amritraj has chronicled his journey in an autobiography, which he says will give an insight on how to make it big in the US film industry.
• The 57-year-old film producer says 30 years ago when he decided to begin his career in Hollywood, people seemed to be oblivious to the existence of India.
• "I entered Hollywood 30 years ago. At that time there were no Indians there. India was not fashionable. Studio executives could barely pronounce my name. So, it was a different time than what it is today. The image has changed drastically," Amritraj told PTI in an interview.
• "My book 'Advantage: Hollywood' is more for the next generation. It is a good read for Asia, for middle east. Children often ask me about how to make it in Hollywood. It is an answer for them," he said.
• Amritraj said he decided to write this autobiography after his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago and he began taping his father's conversations to make him remember things.
• "I did not write this book to make any revelation as such. I think I have revealed all that years ago. About three years ago my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and was forgetting things. I used to take a tape recorder and record dad and mom."
• Amritraj said recording his parents' memories made him inclined to write about his own life, which he claims was a painful process.
• "While doing that I realised that we are what our parents bring us up to be and writing about my journey from Chennai to Wimbledon and eventually to Hollywood began to make sense as this was an interesting story. That is when it all started and two years ago I decided to write it. Now my appreciation for writers have gone up a lot. It was a painstaking process," the producer said.
• Amritraj launched 'Advantage: Hollywood' at the CII Big Picture Summit here alongwith his long time friend Hollywood action star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
• Their friendship dates back to 1990 when Amritraj produced Double Impact, one of Van Damme's most successful films in his career.
• "At the most important dates of my life, Jean-Claude has been there so it is always exciting. But this for me is very special because it's launching the autobiography and he made a special trip for it. The Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance producer also said that his actor friend has been given his dues importance in the book as well.
• "The book starts with Jean-Claude. It begins in 1990 with our meeting at the Cannes Film Festival and how we went on to make 'Double Impact'. It was a big success in 1991," he said. Amritraj has produced over 100 films so far and mostly Hollywood ventures including Antitrust, Walking Tall, Bringing Down the House among others.
• Except for Bloodstone in 1988 with Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, Jeans starring Aishwarya Rai in 1998 and The Other End of the Line, with Anupam Kher, Shriya Saran, his films have hardly had any Indian connect.
• "Part of the reason is that I haven't been able to put my life on hold in Hollywood to come and make films here. I have lot of friends who make wonderful films here so what I make has to be something different. What I would like to do is find a script that can utilise Indian talent in a Hollywood style film," Amritraj said.
• The producer also feels that it's time Indian filmmakers stop taking inspirations from Hollywood films and focus more on original screenplays and promote homegrown stories. "I think the main thing with Indian cinema is as long as it's kept original it's good. It is hard to win against Hollywood because of the amount of money spent on them. There are wonderful stories in India so they should not necessarily imitate Hollywood in what they do," he said.