Ashok Amritraj wants to make film on tennis

Panaji - Former tennis player Ashok Amritraj, who is more known as a Hollywood producer than a tennis-pro, said he would love to make a film on tennis.

Speaking as a special guest at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), he said: “Visually, tennis has not been shown in a manner that makes the audience understand how difficult it is to play the game. I hope we are able to do this.”

Ashok’s brothers Anand and Vijay are tennis icons in India. Vijay is a well-renowned international tennis commentator.

Producer of several action oriented films in the 1980s and the 1990s, Ashok said that now actors don’t need body bulk and muscle like Jean Claude Van Damme to carry off an action role.

“Visually cinema is changing, which will have an impact on international and Indian cinema action as associated with stars earlier, like Jean Claude Van Damme. Now you have a skinny Spider-man flying through the air, with excellent visual effects. Visual effects are being associated with action,” he said.

He added that it was wrong to construe Hollywood as commercial cinema alone.

“Hollywood is not limited to commercial, mainstream cinema, it has much more. While Matt Damon does a ‘Bourne Identity’, he also does a ‘Contagion’. George Clooney does an ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘The Descendants’,” he said.