From James Bond cameo to biopic on his extraordinary life: tennis legend Vijay Amritraj to serve up another smash hit
India’s first professional athlete recollects battling lung disease as a child and defying cynics and cultural barriers to become one of Asia’s most influential tennis stars
Asian tennis pioneer Vijay Amritraj beat Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Stan Smith in his heyday, but challenging the game’s greatest players seems like a stroll when compared to the Indian’s struggles with lung disease as a boy.
“I was very ill as a child and spent a lot of time in hospital; four hours of IV every day while my mother would go sit in school, taking notes, teaching me in hospital, and begging my teachers to let me take the exams,” said the 64-year-old, in town for The Road to Wimbledon Hong Kong, a junior tournament determining the Hong Kong representatives for the finals at the All England Club’s grass courts later this year.
Doctors had encouraged young Amritraj to take up an outdoor sport to improve his breathing. By 13, he made the junior Asian tennis championships, and at just 15, he represented India in the Davis Cup. He would go on to be the country’s first professional athlete, world number 16, Asia’s number one for over a decade, and a cultural icon that transcended the sport itself.
Amritraj’s remarkable life – which includes acting alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond classic Octopussy (1983) and being appointed as a United Nations peace ambassador with Muhammad Ali – is now in the works to be adapted into a film.
Mumbai-based Cinestaan Film Company acquired the film rights in September last year with Amritraj’s son and former pro, Prakesh, taking a co-producer role. No title nor release date have been confirmed.