He’s more popularly known as a Hollywood producer, but starting on Tuesday and for the next seven weeks, Ashok Amritraj will be seen in a different avatar: as host, mentor and guide in the reality show Chance of a Lifetime on the Arabic channel National Geographic Abu Dhabi.
Featuring 12 documentary filmmakers — four each from the UAE, India and Singapore — the show follows the contestants as they are put through their paces and given filmmaking tasks by Amritraj in Apprentice-style competitions. The winning team will then travel to New York City where their 10-minute short will be screened at the United Nations headquarters. They will then be flown to the Cannes film festival to receive a special recognition prize.
Amritraj calls it a show that will entertain and educate.
“It’s not quite the Housewives of New Jersey. It’s a socially relevant and conscious show,” he says. “While it has the framework of a reality show, the partnership with the UN makes it very different. It takes priority topics which cover the UN’s Millennium Development Goals… from poverty to hunger.
“But I didn’t want it to be a public service announcement. I wanted to put it more in an entertainment sort of way. So we have four Emiratis, four from India and four from Singapore. I put them on teams. They had to pitch ideas.
“I think there were some wonderful talents from the Emirates. They surprised me with the way they were able to work and keep up with their colleagues on their teams. It was a great experiment.”
This is not the first time Amritraj has done something like this. He’s hosted another reality competition called Gateway to Hollywood in India which discovered acclaimed Bollywood director Bejoy Nambiar; and presented a show called Heroes of Hollywood for the History channel.
“It’s always a different experience being in front of the camera. I much prefer being behind the camera but I enjoy every facet of filming. I enjoy the control of being behind the camera. I like the idea of being the guy who takes the movie from an idea to the screen,” he says.
Born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in south India, Amritraj is a former tennis player who, along with his brothers, represented his country at many international competitions. He made the move to Hollywood in the 1980s to produce films. His company, Hype Park Entertainment Group, has produced hundreds of films including the most recent Life of Crime, which opened the Abu Dhabi Film Festival last year. 99 Homes, starring Spider-Man actor Andew Garfield, is currently in production.
Hyde Park Entertainment partnered with Imagenation Abu Dhabi in 2008 on a $250 million (Dh918 million) financing deal to develop, produce and distribute up to 20 feature films over seven years. Chance of a Lifetime is the result of that partnership.
Amritraj says he hopes the film will inspire viewers. “I hope it will educate them and encourage them to go out and make the world a better place,” he says.
Don’t miss it
Chance of a Lifetime premieres on National Geographic Abu Dhabi on Tuesday at 9pm UAE and will air at the same time every week. The show has been dubbed in Arabic with no English subtitles.
