Ashwiny Iyer Tiwary says the audience appreciates a story that has strong emotions at its core.(Source: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari/Instagram)Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari has seen success with her two directorial ventures, Nil Battey Sannata and Bareily Ki Barfi, and Tiwari has learnt that when it comes to accepting a film, the audience appreciates a story that has strong emotions at its core.
Before starting her debut feature, Nil Battey Sannata, Ashwiny doubted if anyone would be interested in watching the story of a house-help. But to her surprise, the film was accepted.
“When I made Nil Battery Sannata, the first thing that came to me was ‘Who will watch a maid’s story, that too in Agra?’ But what I realise after the love I got for the film is, that emotions don’t have a class,” she said.
“Emotions don’t care about where you came from, what you do. The South Bombay audience watched the film and felt the same kind of emotions that anyone else from another part of the country felt. Same goes for Bareilly Ki Barfi. It was like who would see this boy and girl and falling in love in Bareilly, Lucknow and everyone’s eating peanuts,” Ashwiny said.
The director opened up about her films today during the panel discussion titled ‘Unapologetically Indian’ at the ongoing 20th edition of FICCI Frames.
She further said that people today, crave to revisit their roots, which is the reason why heartland stories are working in Bollywood.
“I realised the maximum number of audience (for my films) was from Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Gurgaon. There’s a reason behind it. I was telling the story of a midtown and all these people coming were those, who hailed from small towns and had gone to cities for work.
“(For them) to go back from pizzas and online shopping to dal chawal is more important. It’s important for them to go back to their roots,” said Tiwari.
Ashwiny shared the panel with filmmakers Sharat Katariya and Guneet Monga among others.
