Asian Leader: What influenced a tennis prodigy to turn to film production?

Ashok Amritraj: My influences are all from my childhood in India. I grew up in a much more innocent and purer time. Movies were something that were an integral part of life; ones like Sound of Music, Ben Hur, and To Sir with Love all impressed me at an early age and I realised that showbiz was in my blood. The colours of the Asian subcontinent and its vivid culture, it's a full of variety and experience. The fact that I travelled around a lot early in my life contributed to creating an awareness and curiosity. This fuelled inspiration to make movies. I like real-life experiences and then to depict them on the screen, I feel the most compelling content comes from human experience.

AL: How difficult was it in making it as the first South Asian producer in Hollywood and how did being a tennis professional help you in this process?

AA: When I entered Hollywood, there were no Indians, it was a sea of white faces and it wasn't easy breaking in. In the U.S, it depends on who you know and how it is all positioned. Tennis opened a lot of doors for me and continues to help me in a number of ways. I had the benefit of being meeting a lot of people on this circuit and I established a network of friends - actors, producers and directors -all of whom wanted to play tennis with me. That definitely gave me a head start.

AL: Something seems to have deterred you from making more movies in India after Jeans. Can you comment on this?

AA: I am very happy to have been a part of Jeans. But it left a bittersweet taste in my mouth for most part. It was one of the most expensive films ever made in India. It did not match the professionalism of my other international production. Undoubtedly it was an exciting venture but the job satisfaction did not match any of my other projects.

AL: What is the future of 'cross over films' between Hollywood and Bollywood? How will this evolve international cinema in both regions?

AA: At the present time, Bollywood is evolving and Indian filmmakers have started to look outside the local market for crossover projects. There are several challenges cross over cinema currently. Indian filmmakers have to break the genre barrier and make movies that will appease the interest across different mindsets. For example it has to satisfy the curiosity of a housewife in Iowa to be successful in any way. Scripts and stories need international appeal that touches universal emotions and experiences. The reason is simple – scripts written and pitched for white, black and now Latino audiences have a large built-in audience. That's not the case for South Asian audiences as most of the films being made for the South Asian audiences; this gives them a large audience of NRI and a few cultural-ist.