Indian-American film producer and former tennis player and Chairman of Hyde Park Entertainment Ashok Amritraj, who is in India for the global launch of his autobiography at the CII Big Picture Summit, discusses his book and the Indian film industry in an interview with Business Line . Excerpts:

What was the trigger for you to write the autobiography?

A few years ago, HarperCollins approached me for the book, but I was not quite ready. Three years ago, my dad started getting Alzhiemer’s and I ended up taping some questions with my mom and dad. It brought back memories of growing up in Chennai, and I thought it was a good time to write the autobiography, even though I have been very busy with various projects.

But, writing the book was a good experience, I would never do it again. (Smiles). It’s largely for the next generation of kids and is a fun read. It’s about my journey from Chennai to Wimbledon and Hollywood, and an immigrant’s take. It’s about the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and the people I worked with. It also talks about my family, how my kids keep me grounded and the choices I had to make.

One of the things that I have talked about was how I missed the first holy communion of my son, as I had to be at Cannes as I had two movies there, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t repeat the mistake. It’s also about how I got my head beaten, the first five years in Hollywood. The world then was a larger place. There was nobody from Asia in the Hollywood film business. It was a lonely world — white and closed. And people asked me — Indian Guy, tennis player and getting into Hollywood? What are you trying to do? Do you even know how to spell Hollywood? (Smiles)

What made you get into Hollywood?

Even when I was playing tennis and growing up in Chennai, I loved Hollywood and the old great films. When I first landed in Los Angeles in 1975 because of tennis and visited the studios, it was a dream, with the movies, palm trees and beaches.

But when I transitioned into films, it was a rude awakening. It was a tough, brutal, hard world. It was extraordinary perseverance, hard work and a fair amount of luck that helped me through.

How do you view the Indian film industry and its evolution?

The Indian film industry has grown and is doing well, and now they are making different kind of stories. But it is yet to make a movie that is sort of a crossover that attracts non-Indian audience. The market is growing in India for films and even among NRIs, but a movie that grosses $100 million outside India is yet to happen.

Has the market in India grown for the kind of films you make in Hollywood?

Revenues from India on my Hollywood movies and Hollywood movies in general have definitely grown. But in comparison to some of the global markets, even China, India is still relatively small. It will continue to grow at a pretty decent pace compared to 20 years ago. The local languages dominate the Indian film industry, which is great.

What is your studio Hyde Park’s India strategy?

I would like to make a Hollywood movie with a bunch of Asian actors. Whenever I am in India, I get pitched by actors and directors, but never by scriptwriters. In Hollywood, we get like a 1,000 scripts pitched in a year, and I make about five-six films a year. I think in India more credit should be given to scriptwriters. In the last five years, things are changing and it’s good to see how ideas have evolved and new films from India that are playing at festivals. So, in the next year or two, we will green light a Hollywood movie with Asian actors and we will keep developing stuff, even if we don’t release it in India.

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