The Indian Cricket team was touring Australia in 1991 under Mohammed Azharuddin (we lost the '91-'92 series 4-0, but Kapil Dev set a record with 400 wickets and Sachin scored 114 runs in Perth). The same year saw the great Boris Becker lose to Michael Stitch in the Wimbledon Men’s finals. But who was this Indian guy who dared to win the juniors US Open as well as the Wimbledon title?
When India needed a hero, Leander Paes quietly showed up and dazzled everyone. Suddenly, we cricket fans became multi-religious. And with the arrival of Mahesh Bhupathi to team up with Leander, the tsunami nicknamed ‘Indian Express’ became an unstoppable force, giving sports fans something to be amazed about.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes ruled tennis after that. Look at the records they hold: Between the two of them, they hold 30 Grand Slam titles, India’s first Grand Slam title, the world record for the most Davis Cup Doubles wins, career Grand Slams in doubles and mixed doubles. If one is the only tennis player in the world to compete seven times in the Olympics, the only Indian player to have won a tennis medal at the Olympics, then the other has the most amazing mixed doubles career. Together, they have an incredible record of 24 consecutive Doubles Davis cup match wins. Fans believe that they should have been on top of the tennis rankings for at least five or ten more years.
I fell in love with the simple yet effective storytelling. Even if you don’t know who Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupath are, you will get to know them. And you will be amazed at how quickly they rose to become world champions. How hard they trained. And yes, how both men had fathers who wanted to see them play the gentlemen’s game. Their life unfolds with a series of seemingly simple interviews with family, school friends, colleagues, coaches and media persons who followed their careers.
Read more: "Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes are great champions; we wanted to present their story with complete honesty"
Look, tennis in India has been a game only for the privileged few. You had to have access to the tennis courts. Ordinary kids could play badminton in the alleys, and cricket is played in every gully in every city, town and village, but tennis is for the rich kids who go to clubs. Both the fathers: Mr Krishna Bhupathi and Dr Vece Paes wanted their sons to play tennis. Whatever their reasons, the kids worked hard to fulfill their father's ambitions and dreams for them. It is very telling to hear Mahesh Bhupathi’s sister confess that she went to court to play, and when she saw how her father was pushing Mahesh to learn and practice, she backed off.
Through the documentary you realise how these young men were guided by these ambitious dads. Indian fathers push their kids to academic excellence, and here we have two dads who were obsessed with creating champions. I felt a twinge of pity for these two lads for having been driven all their lives by dads who meant well. I am sure that both Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes would have achieved other things had they not been pushed by their fathers. But then as we have seen, Serena Williams too has an ambitious father who pushed and pushed his daughters hard towards excellence.
The docu-series uses footage from the matches won perfectly (it’s easy to choose shots because they won so many matches and so many tournaments!). So kudos to Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari for conceptualising the seven-part series seamlessly. And I admire how both Leander and Mahesh were so candid and open to sharing all these wins and joys and the many hurts they experienced. Their relationship is like the quintessential star-crossed lovers who would meet and part several times. Their joys were a stadium full of fans dancing to ‘Made In India’ to welcome them and scream happily at their wins, and their sorrows were at once private and in the full glare of cameras, with sections of the media ready to write them off.
The docu-series pulls you back into the unhappy set of events that caused a rift between Leander and Mahesh. The direction is so impactful that you will find yourself getting angry all over again with those who interfered in this wonderful partnership.
At one point, Amitabh Bachchan (they’re all fans of one another!) who played a friendly match, comments that they are like Jai and Veeru of Sholay and that Mahesh and Leander should be singing, ‘Ye dosti, hum nahi chhodenge!’ But just like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra never really did come around to making "Sholay 2", Leander and Mahesh too have never really come back to dazzle again. Their breakup and their several attempts to get back together broke my heart.
As you watch, you wish that Leander and Mahesh had been deaf. So none of the horrid rumours that tore them apart would have reached them. I wished both had communicated what they really felt with one another instead of turning to their dads or coaches for advice. The downfall, and that too is explained well, is like an airplane that takes off, cruises and then has to descend. But it hurts. And both stars were hurting. Both fighting fitness challenges.
If tennis players serve at speeds that are mind-blowing (Sam Groth’s serve in Busan, the fastest at 263 kmph or 163.4mph, is not even counted, and Albano Olivetti and John Eisner’s serves at 257.5 kmph/160mph and 253kmph/175.2mph come in at second and third fastest), then imagine the speeds at which doubles rallies are often played. The levels of fitness are incredible. So by the time the documentary episode mentions Mahesh Bhupathi’s groin injury or Leander’s brain lesion (turned out to be a misdiagnosis), you realise that the music has changed too. It is now ominous. As if it is letting you know that the joy of winning in the earlier episodes are as ephemeral as victories and rankings can be. The two lads have to work hard at the careers chosen by their fathers for them.
This show culminates in a pool of tears at the foot of my sofa (my empty coffee cup has filled and spilled all the tears I collected like Caesar). This is a great idea, beautifully executed and a must watch!
