The Narrator: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Indian Filmmaker And Writer Currently she's directing the life story of Narayan Murthy and Sudha Murthy
By Punita Sabharwal •
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Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's Transition has been from a professional to a filmmaker. Always interested in painting and art, she got into Leo Burnett as a trainee art director. Gradually progressing towards the creative side, she became the Creative Director and started handling brands like P&G, Sony Entertainment Television. In her 16 years stint, she was handling the entire ASEAN region. Handling promotions and campaigns were her forte, that's when her interest in storytelling started. Some of the best campaigns for KBC for 12 years were handled by her, the prominent being bringing more women to the hot seat. She soon starting writing and started working on scripts. And soon came her first film, "Nil Battey Sannata." She went on making movies like Bareilly Ki Barfi, Tarla winning her many awards. Currently she's directing the life story of Narayan Murthy and Sudha Murthy.
Talking about her turning point she says, "Bareilly Ki Barfi was really a turning point, I think, for both of us in terms of what we did. I was there Rajkummar Rao also came. The joy is- just seeing unknown people just coming in saying to you "I really like your work". Then I made Panga. When Panga happened, COVID kicked in. During COVID we got the opportunity to work with Mahesh and Leander Paes on a documentary series for ZEE5."
"I want to make stories which I believe in, and I want to give wings to so many more directors and storytellers who can make a difference through their stories. So I started Earthsky Pictures. And then we did Ankahi, which was a short film series for Netflix, then Ghar ki Murgi For another show with Sony. Then we produced Tarla last year, the first time director, and writer called Piyush worked with me, we knew each other from our day at Leo Burnett."
Talking about how she gets her creative ideas kicking, she says, "I was coming back from Nil Battey Sannata shooting. I was at Delhi airport from Agra, and I was very bored. So I read a lot and I picked up this book called The Ingredients of Love because it was a very easy read. I finished the book and I reached home. I thought this can be made in a film, and then Nitesh Tiwari (my husband) read it and I made it into a film and that's how we started writing Bareilly Ki Barfi. Everything in life, sometimes impulse decisions in life are good. It can just backfire also, but I mean what is life without risk."
Currently, she has a greater interest in the arts and crafts of the country and the paintings and textures, and textiles. Right now she's tying up with a lot of these young textile designers and telling their stories through something called roots. She has also started the Earthsky Moon, which is a digital communication and advertising and writing agency.
