A Hollywood style game, set, match

Ashok Amritraj is famous as one of the Indians who made a mark on international professional tennis back in the 1970s, alongside brother Vijay. The 60-year-old is today best known as a Hollywood producer with over 100 films grossing over $2 billion on the box-office worldwide. The Chennai-born filmmaker is based in Los Angeles but truly embodies the Global Indian tag, making regular trips to India as well as the UK. 'India Global Business' caught up with the chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment during a recent visit to London to delve into the business of cinema, breaking the race divide in Hollywood to pave the way for future generations and China beating India in the box-office race. How often are you able to go back to Chennai and how do you feel when you are back I go often and, in fact, will be heading there on the way to Malaysia this time to meet my mom and be a good son. I am a big fan of old Madras. I like new Chennai; new India is very different. But I think one has to be very careful. What we are in India, what we have been for so many generations, the culture and the traditions and family values should not get lost in this sort of strange confusing world that we live in. I do see a lot of changes, a lot of it for the good, some of it not so good. There are many more choices for the kids today than when we grew up. My parents said go play tennis, and we went to play tennis. There was no argument about it. Things have changed. It is educationally great for kids today! Is Hollywood a more welcoming place for Indians today There are a lot of Indian actors nowadays, men and women, who are second generation Indians doing very well in America, like Aziz Ansari and Kunal Nayar. You are starting to see a lot of them on television. I do believe that over the next decade you will have a lot of working actors, both from India and second generation Indians who live in America and around the world, a lot on TV and in film. I think that is coming because the racial integration is much more today than it was 25 years ago. I would give myself and others of my generation a lot of credit. I think we brought down those barriers over a period of 25 years in producing, in music, in acting, and we have had some wonderful talented people over the years who have made a difference.

Is the American film industry becoming more multi-cultural It is easier for a variety of reasons because the audience is more willing to accept a multi-coloured cast. The bigger movies, the Marvel movies, don't depend on a white cast. They are generally multi-cultural. If a racoon can be a star in 'Guardians of Galaxy' or a tree can be star, I think you can be any colour in any of these movies. Those movies are very colour blind as opposed to the old days. People like my dear friend Sidney Portier broke the mould and trend for African American actors. Antonio Bandares was similarly instrumental for Latino and Spanish actors. The Jackie Chans of the world did it for China and then all of us in our generation. Do you think it is important for India to take its acting global If an actor wants to be global, he or she should try and do that. You can't do that living in India. You have got to put yourself out there but you have to realise you are starting pretty new in an area where actors from everywhere around the world could be stars in their own country. You may not want to do that. Some from India do and others are very comfortable in their markets, and that is perfectly normal to stay with your comfort zone where they may be a huge movie star. How would you compare Hollywood and Bollywood

On an industry level, there are huge differences because stories are different in India, methods of acting are different, hair and make-up are different. But that's what the audience wants. So there is no point in giving them a dark gloomy festival film and expect 80 per cent of those not in the cities to want to go to that kind of a movie. I think the Shah Rukhs and the Salmans give the Indian audience what they want to see in a very large dose. All of India operates with a sense of organised chaos. Everyone there understands what's going on, so it's like trying to compare the traffic in Mumbai to the traffic in LA. The cars seem to find their way through pretty well in both cities. What do you make of the growing obsession with box-office figures In the US, it was $100 million and now it is $1 billion and then it will be how quickly can you get there. That exists in every industry around the world. Today it's all about the box office in China surpassing Hollywood. But they only allow 34 movies into China so it's not quite the same thing. I don't think it's a bad thing that one aims for a larger box office or to grow the industry. I think that's great, it's a good sign. Do you track cinema in India I have heard more about them than seen them. But I do hear the number of films that are alternative are increasing. At least the films are getting more diverse. But seemingly, the audience still gravitates towards the traditional formats. I will say China is making much more noise these days than India is from a box office standpoint and so it would be important for India to also grow the industry and work on co-productions with other countries and use other ways to go global. Your view on the Oscars accused of being racist; are things changing The Academy [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences] was started a long time ago when it was a very white organisation. I think I was among the first Asian producers to become a member. We have all worked very hard towards diversifying the Academy and I think now you see the fruits of that and it's a combination of a variety of things - more diverse actors and the internet making us a more globalised village. It is the correct time to do this. Over the next decade, it will become a lot more of a diverse industry worldwide. Finally, tell us about some of your future projects. The recent release was '99 Homes', which won a prize at Venice and we were nominated for Golden Globes, so that was great. We have a movie shooting in Malaysia right now called 'Prey', which is more of a thriller. My daughter Priya, who wants to be a director, is working on it. Our business is not for the weak of heart, so we will see.