You’ve an audience for every film’
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari is known for directing Nil Battey Sanata (2016) and Bareilly Ki Barfi. Both her films have had strong female characters. While things have only been changing for the better for women artistes in Bollywood, ask her if the budgets however still remain relatively lower for women-oriented movies, and she says, “It’s all changing. It may have happened before. But I am three years old in the industry, and for me fortunately, I don’ think I’ve ever faced this kind of issue. It’s totally based on the story. Everything is a reverse effect; first, it depends on the story and then it’s about the actors that you are getting on board [for the film]. The fact remains that if you get an A-list actor, your budget is going to increase, then it’s equally proportionate to your marketing spends, and it’s also proportionate to the number of screens you are going to get. Otherwise a Nil Battey Sanata wouldn’t have reached where it did. You have an audience for all kinds of movies and all kinds of actors.”
Ashwiny is married to film-maker Nitesh Tiwari of Dangal (2016) fame. Both of them started their career in the advertising industry. Since both belong to the same profession, are films the major subject of discussion at home and do they discuss each other’s work? “For us, profession has never been a big talk. In the industry, not many people work together this way. I think in other industries a lot of husband and wives work together. So it is nothing new for us. We have been working together in the advertising industry for the longest time. So it never came as a surprise. In many professions, it’s common, but in films (industry) it’s a bit unusual.”