- published: 03 Jan 2014
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Ashok Amritraj (Tamil: அசோக் அம்ரித்ராஜ்; born February 22, 1956) is an Indian American film producer, former tour professional tennis player, and chairman of Hyde Park Entertainment.
Amritraj is also a former tennis player and has represented India on an international level. Amritraj has played in every major tennis tournament during his nine-year career including Wimbeldon and the United States Open. His brothers, Vijay Amritraj and Anand Amritraj, are accomplished tennis players.
Amritraj has produced over 100 films, including Hollywood films such as Antitrust, Walking Tall, and Bringing Down the House, which starred Steve Martin and Queen Latifah and Tamil film Jeans. Among his upcoming movies are projects based on Lee Falk's comic strip characters Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom. Amritraj also produced The Other End of the Line in collaboration with MGM Studios and India's Reliance MediaWorks Ltd in 2008.
He has also produced a talent hunt programme for newcomers in the field of direction by the name of Gateway. The programme aired on Sony PIX channel.
Aamir Hussain Khan (pronounced [ˈaːmɪr ˈxaːn]) (born 14 March 1965) is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema.
Starting his career as a child actor in his uncle Nasir Hussain's film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), Khan began his professional career eleven years later with Holi (1984) and had his first commercial success with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). He received his first National Film Award as a Special Jury Award for his roles in the films Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and Raakh (1989). After eight previous nominations during the 1980s and 1990s, Khan received his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his performance in the major grosser Raja Hindustani (1996) and later earned his second Best Actor award for his performance in the Academy Award-nominated Lagaan, which also marked the debut of his own production company.
Following a four-year break from acting, Khan made his comeback playing the title role in the historical Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), and later won a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his role in Rang De Basanti (2006). The following year, he made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par, for which he received a Filmfare Award for Best Director. This was followed by Ghajini (2008), which became the highest grossing film of that year, and 3 Idiots (2009), which became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all-time, unadjusted for inflation. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010 for his contributions towards the arts.