by Jaspreet Pandohar
Freelance writer and Filmmaker

Having bought a controlling stake in Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio, rumours of billionaire-industrialist Anil Ambani’s buyout of MGM Studios dominated movie industry news in early 2010.

But despite his colossal power, the boss of Reliance Big Pictures company doesn’t get the prize for being the first Indian to make waves in Hollywood.

That credit goes to Ashok Amritraj, the one time professional tennis player turned movie mogul who this year celebrates 30 years in the industry and production of 100 films in Hollywood.

The film producer was in London recently for one in a series of celebratory events honouring his landmark achievement.

As the man behind Hollywood hits such as ‘Bringing Down The House’, ‘Premonition’ and upcoming ‘Streetfighter’, during the span of his three decade career, the century of films Ashok has executive produced have gross in excess of $1 billion worldwide.

Amritraj has partnered with every major studio in tinsel-town, and produced films starring the likes of Bruce Willis, Sandra Bullock, Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett.

During his London visit Ashok confirmed that his company has two new film projects “of a British nature” in the pipeline, with plans to shoot both in the UK before the end of 2010.

His company Hyde Park Entertainment has picked up the film rights to Andy McNab’s twelve-novel espionage series based around the character Nick Stone, an ex-SAS officer turned freelance intelligence officer who works on perilous operations for cash.

“We’ve also bought the rights to remake The Persuaders!, the classic 1970s action/adventure series that originally starred Tony Curtis and Roger Moore. We’re in the process of casting that and Brit Peter Howitt, who directed Sliding Doors, will be behind that.”

Originally shown on ITV, the show centred on two international playboys, one American and the other English, who come together to solve cases the courts are unable to.

With movie making partnerships in Singapore, India and the Middle East, Amritraj’s Hyde Park has pioneered the effort to build a bridge between East and West by bringing together cinema and cultural exchanges and providing a platform for Indian and Asian talent to be showcased on a global scale.

Commonly viewed as “India’s Ambassador to Hollywood”, Ashok has preferred to locate his Indian base in his native city of Chennai where he was born and raised, rather than Mumbai where his fellow Hollywood producers have headed.

According to the tycoon, Hollywood’s attempt to get a slice of the Bollywood pie has been a “purely economic” collaboration to date, with studios like Warners, Disney and Fox having “little creative input” into the kind of films they finance for the Asian markets.

“They went in there thinking it was going to be like any other market so their first few attempts were not that great,” he says.

“Now they are rethinking the whole strategy on how many movies they will make and distribute in India. They have the staying power and want to be on the ground, so let’s see what happens.”

Similarly, Ashok recognises the keen interest eastern financers like Ambani have taken in Hollywood. “Economic growth is pretty unstoppable in India, China and the Middle East, and like me a lot of people there would like to be in the movie business.”

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Jaspreet Pandohar is a freelance writer and filmmaker.
jaspreetpandohar@yahoo.co.uk