Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari: Story of dos and don’ts for youngsters

The director duo flanked by Paes and Bhupathi. Pic/Instagram

In 1999, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi appeared to be an unstoppable force, winning two Grand Slam titles. But in a few years, the Indian Express - as they were dubbed - screeched to an abrupt halt as the two split, leaving fans across the country heartbroken. Filmmakers Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari have attempted to examine India's greatest men's doubles tennis players with their docu drama, Break Point. "Here, we are talking about two legends and their glory. At the same time, it's a story of the dos and don'ts for the youngsters of this country who are [embarking on] any kind of partnership," says Iyer.

The ZEE5 project, while studying all that went right and wrong with the Lee-Hesh partnership, will focus on their Wimbledon win in 1999. It marks Iyer's first attempt at co-direction with husband Tiwari. "As storytellers and directors, we are different from each other, but what we want to achieve is the same. It's not that we have not worked in the past. We have worked together for almost 21 years [in] different capacities. We know our strengths and we continuously work on them, so that there is no break point [between us]," she quips.

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It has been a busy year for the director, who extended her storytelling ability to the written word as she released her debut novel, Mapping Love. Has she considered adapting it for the screen? "I wanted to always write the story as a novel because it's poetic and metaphorical in nature. If I had to develop it as a screenplay, I would have written it differently. But now that the book is out, if my producer friends want to make a movie out of it, I would like to because I am a storyteller at the end of the day."

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