Ashok Amritraj says his book will give an insight into on how to make it big in Hollywood
New Delhi:
From being a tennis star, to asuccessful Hollywood producer, Ashok Amritraj has chronicledhis journey in an autobiography, which he says will give aninsight on how to make it big in the US film industry.
The 57-year-old film producer says 30 years ago when hedecided to begin his career in Hollywood, people seemed to beoblivious to the existence of India.
"I entered Hollywood 30 years ago. At that time there wereno Indians there. India was not fashionable. Studio executivescould barely pronounce my name. So, it was a different timethan what it is today. The image has changed drastically,"Amritraj told PTI in an interview.
"My book 'Advantage: Hollywood' is more for the nextgeneration. It is a good read for Asia, for middle east. Childrenoften ask me about how to make it in Hollywood. It is ananswer for them," he said.
Amritraj said he decided to write this autobiographyafter his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three yearsago and he began taping his father's conversations to make himremember things.
"I did not write this book to make any revelation as such.I think I have revealed all that years ago. About three yearsago my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and wasforgetting things. I used to take a tape recorder and recorddad and mom."
Amritraj said recording his parents' memories made himinclined to write about his own life, which he claims was apainful process.
"While doing that I realised that we are what our parentsbring us up to be and writing about my journey from Chennai toWimbledon and eventually to Hollywood began to make sense asthis was an interesting story. That is when it all started andtwo years ago I decided to write it. Now my appreciation forwriters have gone up a lot. It was a painstaking process," theproducer said.
Amritraj launched 'Advantage: Hollywood' at the CII BigPicture Summit here alongwith his long time friend Hollywoodaction star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Their friendship dates back to 1990 when Amritraj producedDouble Impact, one of Van Damme's most successful films inhis career.
"At the most important dates of my life, Jean-Claude hasbeen there so it is always exciting. But this for me is veryspecial because it's launching the autobiography and he made aspecial trip for it.The Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance producer also saidthat his actor friend has been given his dues importance inthe book as well.
"The book starts with Jean-Claude. It begins in 1990 withour meeting at the Cannes Film Festival and how we went on tomake 'Double Impact'. It was a big success in 1991," he said.Amritraj has produced over 100 films so far and mostlyHollywood ventures including Antitrust, Walking Tall,Bringing Down the House among others.
Except for Bloodstone in 1988 with Tamil superstarRajinikanth, Jeans starring Aishwarya Rai in 1998 and TheOther End of the Line, with Anupam Kher, Shriya Saran, hisfilms have hardly had any Indian connect.
"Part of the reason is that I haven't been able to put mylife on hold in Hollywood to come and make films here. I havelot of friends who make wonderful films here so what I makehas to be something different. What I would like to do is finda script that can utilise Indian talent in a Hollywood stylefilm," Amritraj said.
The producer also feels that it's time Indian filmmakersstop taking inspirations from Hollywood films and focus moreon original screenplays and promote homegrown stories."I think the main thing with Indian cinema is as long asit's kept original it's good. It is hard to win againstHollywood because of the amount of money spent on them. Thereare wonderful stories in India so they should not necessarilyimitate Hollywood in what they do," he said.
The 57-year-old film producer says 30 years ago when hedecided to begin his career in Hollywood, people seemed to beoblivious to the existence of India.
"I entered Hollywood 30 years ago. At that time there wereno Indians there. India was not fashionable. Studio executivescould barely pronounce my name. So, it was a different timethan what it is today. The image has changed drastically,"Amritraj told PTI in an interview.
"My book 'Advantage: Hollywood' is more for the nextgeneration. It is a good read for Asia, for middle east. Childrenoften ask me about how to make it in Hollywood. It is ananswer for them," he said.
Amritraj said he decided to write this autobiographyafter his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three yearsago and he began taping his father's conversations to make himremember things.
"I did not write this book to make any revelation as such.I think I have revealed all that years ago. About three yearsago my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and wasforgetting things. I used to take a tape recorder and recorddad and mom."
Amritraj said recording his parents' memories made himinclined to write about his own life, which he claims was apainful process.
"While doing that I realised that we are what our parentsbring us up to be and writing about my journey from Chennai toWimbledon and eventually to Hollywood began to make sense asthis was an interesting story. That is when it all started andtwo years ago I decided to write it. Now my appreciation forwriters have gone up a lot. It was a painstaking process," theproducer said.
Amritraj launched 'Advantage: Hollywood' at the CII BigPicture Summit here alongwith his long time friend Hollywoodaction star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Their friendship dates back to 1990 when Amritraj producedDouble Impact, one of Van Damme's most successful films inhis career.
"At the most important dates of my life, Jean-Claude hasbeen there so it is always exciting. But this for me is veryspecial because it's launching the autobiography and he made aspecial trip for it.The Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance producer also saidthat his actor friend has been given his dues importance inthe book as well.
"The book starts with Jean-Claude. It begins in 1990 withour meeting at the Cannes Film Festival and how we went on tomake 'Double Impact'. It was a big success in 1991," he said.Amritraj has produced over 100 films so far and mostlyHollywood ventures including Antitrust, Walking Tall,Bringing Down the House among others.
Except for Bloodstone in 1988 with Tamil superstarRajinikanth, Jeans starring Aishwarya Rai in 1998 and TheOther End of the Line, with Anupam Kher, Shriya Saran, hisfilms have hardly had any Indian connect.
"Part of the reason is that I haven't been able to put mylife on hold in Hollywood to come and make films here. I havelot of friends who make wonderful films here so what I makehas to be something different. What I would like to do is finda script that can utilise Indian talent in a Hollywood stylefilm," Amritraj said.
The producer also feels that it's time Indian filmmakersstop taking inspirations from Hollywood films and focus moreon original screenplays and promote homegrown stories."I think the main thing with Indian cinema is as long asit's kept original it's good. It is hard to win againstHollywood because of the amount of money spent on them. Thereare wonderful stories in India so they should not necessarilyimitate Hollywood in what they do," he said.
