“They were magic”. “The duo was poetry in motion”. These are the words of different people about Indian tennis legends Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi as “Breakpoint”, a documentary series on their teaming up and then breaking up, opens on Zee5. 

“Breakpoint” by Nitesh and Ashwini Tiwari premiered on the OTT platform on October 1. It charts the story of the legendary doubles pair of Paes and Bhupathi, or “the Indian Express”, from their rise to prominence to the point where they did not even want to see each other. So brace yourself as Zee5 hits a serve towards you that has aced nostalgia and metaphors.

Disclaimer: Bit of spoilers ahead but if you have seen the first episode already, then you don’t need to fear them. This is the review of the first episode.

The 7-episode series starts with a story of two boys who for different reasons choose tennis and then own it, so much so that at one point tennis was synonymous with their name in India and there was no one in the country who followed a bit of sports and did not know who Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were. As the documentary suggests, they put Indian tennis on the world map.

How did they become who they are?

Sheer dedication, says Leander Paes in one of the scenes in the first episode. He wanted to play football but a medical condition did not let him.

“Then I chose the most difficult sport in the world,” Paes says, who always wanted to win an Olympic medal like his father did in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Vence Paes had won a bronze for India in hockey. Paes equalled his father in 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he won India’s first tennis medal, a bronze, with Bhupati. His friends tell the audience that he would have played for India in any sport he chose, and thank goodness he chose tennis.

Then the story shifts, rather abruptly, towards Mahesh Bhupathi. He did not choose tennis. His father did it for him. His father was himself a tennis player and wanted his son to go on and conquer the world in the sport. And he did.

The story of how this duo became a duo has also been told in the documentary but the first episode seems rather rushed. The audience may want a little more details although it still drives home the point it wants to make. Hopefully, they delve deeper in the rest of the series.

All in all, for everyone who grew up watching them and for every Bryan Brothers or Roger Federer or tennis fan in the country, go watch it. You will not be disappointed.