What Is the Story About?
Two young Indian boys, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, team up and go on to become the best Doubles Tennis team in the world. However the duo were not without their off-court problems and eventually they fell apart multiple times in their career. Why did the best tennis team India has ever produced break up? Why was there a communication breakdown? And more importantly, what would have happened to the sport of tennis, if this brilliant duo managed to work things out?
Analysis
Break Point is not a normal sports documentary. We are not given any background information about the sport of tennis.
How are the points earned or lost? How do singles tennis and doubles tennis differ?
Why is an Olympic Medal and the Wimbledon Trophy so important?
The aforementioned questions (and many others) remain unanswered. This means, a good chunk of viewers will not understand a lot of sporting terms and will be left clueless during the “game time” part of the documentary. Which is a mistake from the creators’ part. A ten-minute background explanation of the sport can easily pull in more viewers because the series is quite engaging. The creators still manage to make a series that keeps anyone with a remote idea about the sport, well engaged. Which is some brilliant work.
But the documentary series is not a normal sports documentary due to this reason alone. Break Point doesn’t just talk about Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi’s greatest victories; we are given a true story about the legacy of two Indian sporting legends that ended up having a complicated legacy. While we do get to see their greatest victories on the court, we are also given an insight into the chaos and drama that happened behind the scenes from the perspectives of both players, their coaches and their close friends & family members. With all the problems that happened, and what “Lee-Hesh” still achieved despite all that; many will be left wondering, at the very end – “What if?”
The documentary series has many enticing themes that push the series forward – clashing egos, sacrifice, brilliant dramatic sports moments, and multiple other dramatic and epic subject matters. Which is good, since the series starts to drag during some crucial parts. The directing duo does a good job throughout, but there were a few repetitive portions in the web series that put the series off its pace – which is where the dragging part comes from. But with some brilliant editing work, the docuseries stays interesting and the unscripted story keeps pulling us along.
This web series will give a lot of clarity to a lot of Indian Tennis fans, “Lee-Hesh” fans, Indian sports talents, and even the rest of the tennis world, into the drama that was happening at the time between the two Indian Doubles legends. For the remaining viewers, this series will act as an eye-opener. Break Point shows us that India created two of the finest tennis doubles players in the world – and many of us missed out on the rise of giants. All of these talks about Mahesh and Leander’s on-court chemistry and their off-court problems also bring up important points regarding communication breakdowns, trust between teammates and learning from mistakes. While the happy ending we get is more bittersweet, the above mentioned points (from Break Point) leaves us feeling hopeful for Indian Tennis.
Overall, Break Point is a really good series that engages you from the get go. Once you finish an episode, you immediately skip the credits for the next one – cementing its “binge-worthiness”.
Music and Other Departments?
The direction, cinematography and music are standouts on this show. The directing couple, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari, do a brilliant job in working out the narrative and splitting the show into important parts that drops in a few cliffhangers, that makes us want to binge-watch. The entire series is very cinematic, and while there are some green-screen problems found during some of the interviews, it didn’t affect the narrative much. The music complements the cinematography and gives the web series a larger-than-life effect – which it actually is.
Highlights?
The Story
The Premise
The History
Cinematography
Direction
Music
Drawbacks?
No Introduction Of The Sport
Uneven Pacing
Did I Enjoy It?
Definitely.
Will You Recommend It?
Hell, yes. Definitely worth a watch.
Break Point Web Series Reviewby Binged Bureau
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