He was a professional tennis player, who represented India – the country of his birth – at Wimbledon and the US Open, before becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest players, producing films with stars from Cate Blanchett to Angelina Jolie. Now Ashok Amritraj is recalling his earlier career by making a major feature film about Arthur Ashe, the American athlete who became the only black man to win Wimbledon.
What gives the film a special touch is that Amritraj himself played Ashe in the mid-1970s in St Louis, Missouri. He lost, but his admiration for his opponent, both on and off the court, remains undimmed. He describes him as a “charismastic” player, as well as “a gentleman and an intellectual” in person.
Ashe grew up at a time when men and women were refused entry to tennis clubs because of the colour of their skin. He first played tennis aged seven in a segregated playground near his home in Richmond, Virginia. His early potential was spotted by Walter Johnson, who coached him.
He went on to triumph at Wimbledon in 1975, beating the favourite, Jimmy Connors – in a 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 victory remembered as “a tactical masterpiece” – as well as winning the US and Australian open titles. In his memoir Days of Grace, Ashe wrote that Connors had smacked the ball “with a force that bordered on vindictiveness”. But this will be a film as much about Ashe’s achievements in battling discrimination.
Amritraj told the Guardian: “It’s about the man, about his growing up and making it as a black man in a white man’s world. Arthur was so much more than a great tennis player … while he did have a voice in the civil rights in the US, he really found his voice [opposing] the apartheid policies of South Africa. In the mid-1970s, he played there, insisting that the audience were both white and black and would sit together. [It] was the first time ever that they could sit next to each other, watching this extraordinary person, a black man, beat all these white tennis players all the way to the final, where Connors beat him. It was a bit of a letdown, but then of course it was followed up by the Wimbledon final where he beat Jimmy.”
Ashe once said: “From what we get, we can make a living … What we give, however, makes a life.”
He died in 1993, aged just 49. During his heart-bypass surgery, he became infected with HIV following a tainted blood transfusion. Amritraj, born in Chennai, began playing tennis aged seven, eventually competing in the 1970s at Wimbledon, in the junior finals as well as playing in the seniors, and on the winning team of the World Team Tennis Championship in 1978.
His brothers, Vijay and Anand, also became professional tennis players. For the first time in Wimbledon history, three brothers played at the same time.
But making films had been Ashok Amritraj’s childhood dream. When he arrived in Los Angeles in 1975, his status as a tennis ace introduced him to studio executives and actors such as Sidney Poitier and Dustin Hoffmann, who were good tennis players. Aged 26, he ended his sports career to make films, beginning with small-scale productions.
Through Hyde Park Entertainment, the company he founded in 1999, he has become one of Hollywood’s foremost producers, collaborating with every major studio. Films include Bandits, a comedy with Blanchett, Original Sin, a thriller with Jolie, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and Shopgirl, a comic drama with Steve Martin and Claire Danes.
He spoke of wanting to preserve the legacy of Ashe for future generations. Kevin Willmott, the Oscar-winning writer, is now working on the screenplay. Amritraj is planning some “interesting casting” for the lead role.