THINGS FALL APART
A documentary about the Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi partnership, Break Point also uses tropes you would remember from romantic melodramas
OON PAPER, BREAK POINT, a ZEE5 show on the highs and lows in the tennis partnership of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, is a sports documentary, but it can also just as easily be viewed as a relationship horror story, one where the couple keeps patching up again and again, despite knowing they will get hurt.
Through the course of seven episodes, the married filmmaker duo, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (Bareilly Ki Barfi!) and Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal, Chhichhore), rely on the talking heads format to show what made India’s most successful tennis doubles pair tick and also what tore them apart. Parents, friends, coaches, manager, fellow tennis players including the Bryan brothers and Woodies—Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde— all chip in with their thoughts. Some, including Amitabh Bachchan, are unnecessarily interviewed. The best takes, though, come from the protagonists themselves.
Both Paes and Bhupathi are candid here, at times brutally so. “He hurt me. I will not forgive him,” says a moisteyed Paes after Bhupathi and he break up, one of the many times. “One of the dumbest moves I made in my career,” says Bhupathi on giving up the opportunity to team up with Woodbridge after Paes sends him a one-line SMS to play again. Paes is expressive, even if one senses a deliberate rhythm to his delivery; Bhupathi is terse, more matter of fact. They admit that 1999, by far their best professional spell, was also one where they weren’t communicating much. How is it then that the ‘Indian Express’, as they were known, managed to deliver results?
The answer lies in the biggest romantic trope of all— opposites attract. Lee is the alpha, more energetic; Hesh is the introvert, the one who delights in his wry sense of humour. (When it is revealed that the Paes family gifted him a specially-commissioned M.F. Husain painting, he says with a laugh, “At that point people were trying anything to keep us together.”) Their contrasting playing styles complemented each other well on court, but with success, distance grew off court.
The Tiwaris tick off the key episodes in their sports journey—the 1999 Grand slam wins, Bhupathi’s shoulder injury, Paes’ neurocysticercosis diagnosis, the 2004 Olympic bronze loss, the drama before the 2006 Asian Games gold— but they don’t tell us enough about how the two balanced their personal and professional lives.
The series concludes in a predictable, audiencepleasing fashion, but the imagery is in stark contrast to the reality of their relationship today. Paes reveals that despite living in the same neighbourhood, barely 30 seconds apart, they haven’t visited each other’s homes. Break Point shows that even while the best of relationships have fissures, some leave more permanent scars. ■
—Suhani Singh