It’s not a comforting feeling when you are pouring your heart out in the open,” begins Nitesh Tiwari, acknowledging that it could not have been an easy decision for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to come on board Break Point. The ZEE5 series would, after all, make the tennis champions revisit the chapter they had left behind — their glorious years of partnership in men’s doubles tennis that resulted in many Grand Slam wins and major titles, before it all unravelled. But a meeting with Tiwari and filmmaker-wife Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari quelled their fears about the project. 

“We planned to approach it through the eyes of a common friend who also happens to be their fan. He [assured] them that it would be a neutral perspective. We said we’ll present facts to the people; that gave them a lot of comfort,” says Tiwari, grateful that his subjects laid their lives bare for the series. “Leander and Mahesh allowed us to be better storytellers by opening up to us.”