Vijay Amritraj

Vijay Amritraj and his brothers, Anand Amritraj and Ashok Amritraj, were among the first Indians to play in top-flight international tour tennis. In 1976, the brothers (Vijay and Anand) were semi-finalists in the Wimbledon men's doubles.

He born December in 1953, Chennai, India to Maggie Dhairyam and Robert Amritraj. He is a former Indian tennis player, sports commentator and actor.

After playing his first grand prix event in 1970, Amritraj achieved his first significant success in singles in 1973 when he reached the quarter-final stage at two Grand Slam events. At Wimbledon he lost 5–7 in the fifth set to the eventual champion Jan Kodes and later that summer at the U.S. Open lost to tennis great Ken Rosewall after having beaten another legend, Rod Laver, two rounds earlier.

Amritraj repeated his feat at Forest Hills in 1974 when he went out in the last eight again to Rosewall after beating a young Björn Borg in the second round. In the years that followed he reached the latter stages of numerous Grand Prix events but failed to meet with success in the grand slams. It would not be again until 1981 when Amritraj would again proceed to the quarter-finals, going out in five sets to Jimmy Connors. This match typified Amritraj's tennis. He was a natural grass-court player who liked to chip-and-charge, and serve-and-volley. He could compete against the world's best but often would lose longer matches through a lack of stamina.

Amritraj was the captain of the Indian Davis Cup for much of the late 1970s and 1980s, helping India reach the finals in 1974 and 1987. It was here that he revelled as a champion and chalked memorable wins against higher ranked players. A do-or-die five set epic over Martin Jaite of Argentina was the highlight of India's run to the final in 1987.

• He compiled a career singles win-lose record 384-296, winning 16 singles titles to go along with 13 in doubles.
• He beat the best, including John McEnroe at his peak in 1984 (in the first round in Cincinnati).
• He had five career wins over Jimmy Connors in their 11 matches.
• He reached his career high ranking in singles of World No. 16 in July, 1980.
• Both his son Prakash Amritraj and nephew, Stephen Amritraj are professional tennis players.

For almost two decades, Vijay Amritraj was one of the most famous tennis players in the world, and was the top tennis player in Asia for 14 straight years. In recent years, Vijay has become a leading tennis commentator for Fox Sports in the US and STAR-TV in Asia. His California-based company, First Serve Entertainment, is one of the leading multimedia production companies that deals with Asian-American content, and helped Disney, Turner and ESPN enter the Indian market.

• The Vijay Amritraj Foundation has yet another successful evening at the 2008 Gala Banquet

Ashok Amritraj
Chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment

Ashok Amritraj is one of the most successful producers in Hollywood today, and produced the box office hit, Bringing Down The House, starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah. Bringing Down The House is the first in a long line of high-quality, star-driven features being produced by Amritraj in the upcoming year including:

Raising Helen starring Kate Hudson and John Corbett, directed by Garry Marshall and Shop Girl starring Steve Martin, Clare Danes and Jimmy Fallon, both to be released by The Walt Disney Studios; additionally, Amritraj is producing Walking Tall starring The Rock, to be released by MGM. Amritraj has grown Hyde Park Entertainment into a cutting-edge option to the traditional Hollywood studio system for filmmakers by making it one of the few progressive independent companies that encompasses most elements of a full-fledged studio. The Company is capable of developing, producing and co-financing projects as well as handling their international sales and marketing.

Hyde Park Entertainment has a first look deal with MGM, a second look deal with The Walt Disney Studios and a long-term pan-European deal with the powerful European media consortium, Epsilon.

The Hyde Park Entertainment successfully operates as a studio partner, aiming to produce four major films per year at budgets that range from $20 - $90 million each. Through The Walt Disney Studios, Amritraj recently released the critically acclaimed drama/romance, Moonlight Mile, directed by Brad Silberling, starring Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter. Through MGM, Amritraj also produced the Golden Globe nominated, Bandits, directed by Barry Levinson starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett and Original Sin starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas. Amritraj's film, Jeans, was selected by the Film Federation of India as the country's sole nomination for Best Foreign Film in the 1998 Academy Awards. The nomination earned him the title of "Spirit of India's Man Of The Year".

Amritraj also received the "Pride Of India" Lifetime Achievement Award. Over the last twenty years, Amritraj has produced or executive produced over eighty films. Amritraj has offered an interesting perspective to the Hollywood community by coming from a unique background in professional sports. He came to the U.S. from India to play professional tennis with Jerry Buss' L.A. Strings, with teammates Chris Evert and Ilie Nastase, winning a World Team Tennis Championship in 1978 and the Most Valuable Player Award. Amritraj has played in every major tennis tournament during his nine-year career including Wimbeldon and the U.S. Open. Part of the Amritraj tennis dynasty, he was also a finalist at the 1974 Wimbledon Junior Tournament. He is on the Foreign Film Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and is on the International Council for the Emmy Awards.

Anand Amritraj

He is just like his more famous brother Vijay. Articulate, smart and one who is with a vision. Anand was Indian national champion in 1974, but he achieved most of his success partnering younger brother Vijay in doubles.

The pair reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1976 and helped India to the finals of the Davis Cup in 1974 and 1987.

Anand represented India in the Davis Cup for 20 years, an Indian record, after making his debut in 1968.

Vijay Amritraj

Ashok Amritraj

Anand Amritraj