Hollywood's $1 bn Indian

Just as India-born Hollywood film producer Ashok Amritraj settled down for a breakfast meeting at the Polo Lounge at Beverly Hills Hotel, the waiter handed him a script instead of the menu.

As it turned out, the man was a wannabe screenwriter, who has taken up this job to sell his ideas to the Hollywood celebrities who frequented the hotel. Amritraj politely thanked the writer and gave him his business card.

For Ashok Amritraj, the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel has served as a business meeting centre for years. "This was literally my office where I would negotiate deals," Amritraj says.

The youngest of the three Amritraj brothers, Ashok played in every major tennis tournament during his nine-year career, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. He was also a finalist at the 1974 Wimbledon Junior Tournament and won the World Team Tennis Championship in 1978, receiving the Most Valuable Player Award.

Says Amritraj: "I was inspired to join the Hollywood industry by the films that I grew up with like `Sound of Music,' `Ben Hur' and `Wuthering Heights.' This, in association with the stars I met at Los Angeles like Sidney Poitier and Sean Connery, motivated me to join the industry."

In the 1980s Ashok crossed the court from tennis to Hollywood with the encouragement of his old friend and "Ben Hur" star Charlton Heston.

Amritraj entered Hollywood in the 1980s when the video market was booming. He quickly established himself with action-packed films for the direct- to-video market to gain a toehold in Hollywood. He made low-budget films like "Nine Deaths of the Ninja" (1985) but Hollywood did not take any notice of his films.

"It was a very difficult first five years. I would send scripts to studio executives and I would immediately get a call back, but the studio executive would want to talk about tennis for the first 15 minutes and my script for 30 seconds," Amritraj says ruefully.

His big break came with "Double Impact." The $11.4 million "Double Impact" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme was shot on locations in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

Columbia Pictures released the film in over 1,700 theatres in the US and it became one of the most successful films of 1992, grossing $100 million worldwide. All of a sudden Hollywood started taking Ashok Amritraj, the film producer, seriously.

Last year Amritraj produced the box office smash hit "Bringing Down The House," starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, which has grossed over $200 million to date, making him one of the most successful producers in Hollywood today.

After producing over 80 films Amritraj is the only India- born film producer in the world whose films have grossed over US$ 1 billion.

He is also the only film producer of Indian origin whose film, "Bringing Down The House," has been number one on the US box office charts for three weeks.

"Bringing Down The House" is the first in a long line of high-quality, star-driven features being currently produced by Amritraj, including "Raising Helen," starring Kate Hudson and John Corbett and directed by Garry Marshall, and "Shop Girl," starring Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman, both to be released by The Walt Disney Studios.

Additionally, Amritraj has just completed principal photography on "Walking Tall" starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, to be released by MGM in May this year. This makes Ashok Amritraj the only producer in Hollywood besides Jerry Brukenhiemer to have two releases planned for 2004.

As chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment, Ashok Amritraj works from a well-appointed office in MGM Studios in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and has recently opened another one in London.

Amritraj has grown Hyde Park Entertainment into a cutting-edge option to the traditional Hollywood studio system for film makers by making it one of the few progressive independent companies that encompass most elements of a full-fledged studio.

His company today is capable of developing, producing and co-financing projects as well as handling their international sales and marketing. Hyde Park Entertainment has a first -look deal with MGM, a second-look deal with The Walt Disney Studios and a long-term pan-European deal with the powerful European media consortium, Epsilon.

Because of this, the company successfully operates as a studio partner, aiming to produce four major films a year at budgets that range from $20 - $90 million each.

Through The Walt Disney Studios, Amritraj recently released the critically acclaimed drama/romance "Moonlight Mile," directed by Brad Silberling, starring Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter.

Through MGM, Amritraj produced "Original Sin," starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas, and the Golden Globe nominated "Bandits," directed by Barry Levinson, starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett.

Today, Amritraj sits on the Foreign Film Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and is on the board of the Emmy Awards.

Last year he was invited to serve on the Indo-American Advisory Council by the Lieutenant Governor of California and the Sheriff of Los Angeles.

On weekends Amritraj relaxes with his family surrounded by Picassos and Monets at his three-acre mansion in Los Angeles.

He still finds time to play tennis with Pierce Brosnan and Harrison Ford on his flood-lit tennis court. "We try not to discuss the movie business when we play tennis," says the former tennis champ.l

Lall is the president and CEO of LALL Entertainment, a company based in Los Angeles and New Delhi. He can be contacted at
lallentertainment@hotmail.com