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R S Amritraj, director, Amritraj Solomon Communications Pvt Ltd & father of
tennis players Amritraj brothers
 Tell us about your favourite games and your involvement in it?
My wife and I are greatly involved in sports. My wife is a chemistry graduate from Presidency College, Chennai. She was a good tennis player from her younger days. She also has the credit of being the first woman chairman of Presidency College.
But I was not that much interested in such sports. I was more involved in athletics. I've also taken part in many competitions and won many prizes. After our marriage, I started concentrating on tennis. My wife and I started playing tennis from that time in all the clubs in Chennai.
Ramanathan Krishnan was the Asian champion during that period. A girl was the champion for India. My wife and I used to play mixed doubles with them those days. I was 25 years old and my wife was 18. We played at the Rajarathinam Stadium at Chennai Egmore for nearly 12 years.
How did you find the talent of your children in tennis and how did you develop the talent?
My elder son Anand was interested in chess. He won the championship at Andhra Mahila Sabha, which fascinated everybody. Illustrated Weekly magazine published an article about him.
 How did Anand with such an interest in chess became a tennis champion?
My wife and I spoke to Anand one day and told him that by just sitting in one room and playing chess was not healthy. We told him, 'You should play some outdoor game'. We called him to play with us outdoor. He was eight years old then. From that day, he started playing tennis with us.
At this time Dr Rajan, treasurer of the Tennis Association, saw Anand's game and advised us that if he was given good coaching, he would shine in that game. On his advice, we made arrangements to coach him.
By the time he was 11, he started playing well, even for the Indian team.
At what age did your second son Vijay started playing?
Vijay used to watch Anand while he was playing tennis, and, moreover, the age difference between Anand and Vijay was not much. Knowing Vijay's interest in tennis, we started coaching him for that game from the age of seven. Vijay's health was not good as he used to suffer from cold, cough and fever often. So we reared a goat at home and gave him goat's milk every morning. Then his health started developing.
At the age of 12, Vijay had to travel to Amritsar for the national-level junior tennis championship. I accompanied him to Amritsar. He won the championship there. After this, we coached Vijay as we did
Anand.
 How was your feeling when Anand and Vijay played together in Delhi?
When both of them went to Delhi for the national-level championship, they were small boys. The stadium was full. Office-bearers of the Delhi Tennis Association were also watching Anand and Vijay's game. Everybody thought Anand would win the game, but my wife and I were praying to God that our younger boy Vijay should win the game, as Anand had won many times.
Anand spoke to me before the finals and asked me who should win the game. I told him 'you have won the championship three times, so I don't know what you would do, but Vijay should win the match, as he is your younger brother'.
The first set score was 6 all, in the final set, Anand fell and was not able to walk, so Vijay clinched the championship.
The next year, Vijay won the championship with his talent. Similarly, Vijay won the national-level championship for three consecutive years in a row. Following Vijay, our third son Ashok came into the arena. He also won many championships. The intresting aspect in the junior championship was that the trophy was with our family for nearly 10 years.
What is your feeling when somebody spots you as the father of the tennis trio?
I am very happy. Once when our vehicle stopped for a signal in Los Angeles, some people saw Vijay and shouted 'Hey! Vijay Amritraj'. This gave us a sense of joy and we were astonished to see an Indian getting praise from a foreigner in their own soil.
My family is the only family in which three sons have played Wimbeldon consecutively. They played for 1974, 1975 and 1976. My sons have won many championships and created many world records.
 Your family was concentrating more on sports. How did you turn your attention to cinema?
Ashok was more interested in cinema from his childhood and Ashok and Vijay started the company 'Amritraj Productions'. They produced five films in that banner. We ventured into Tamil cinema field also, 'Jeans' was our only Tamil film. The reason for not continuing our venture in Tamil is that producing a film in Tamil takes longer than Hollywood movies.
Vijay had to tour the world for tennis, so he was not able to concentrate on films. Hence, he handed over the responsibility to Ashok. Meanwhile, Ashok studied a four-month course regarding films in California University.
Today, there is nobody other than Ashok who is an expert in financial matters at Hollywood. Many were fascinated by Ashok's skill in financial matters like the Hollywood company Metro Goldwyn Mayor (MGM). The company requested him to become a partner and also asked him to produce five films under their banner. I am happy that Ashok is a very big producer in Hollywood. Not only that, Ashok is the chairman for the selection commitee which selects foreign movies from India and China.
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