When writer-director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari first read the screenplay of System — a courtroom drama centred around a father and daughter navigating a clash of ideologies — she knew the story needed to be told. “Right from my directorial debut Nil Battey Sannata (2015) to my new release System, my desire to tell stories has always been driven by the thought: How do I add value to this movie?” she says.
For nearly a decade, Ashwiny has explored the aspirations of ordinary women doing extraordinary things, be it in Nil Battey Sannata, Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) or Panga (2020). System is no exception. “My endeavour as a storyteller is to make the stories aspirational enough so that whoever watches them feels that they can break their own barriers,” says the director, who presents middle-class India through the evolution of her characters. Ashwiny has also directed the web series Faadu (2022) and co-directed the documentary series Break Point (2021) with her filmmaker husband Nitesh Tiwari.
With System, an Amazon Prime Video original movie that is scheduled to release on May 22, Ashwiny makes a slight departure. In the courtroom drama, she pits a gritty young lawyer Neha (Sonakshi Sinha) opposite her highly-successful lawyer father (Ashutosh Gowariker). Yet, the “soul” of her cinema remains the same.
Sonakshi teams up with actor Jyotika, who appears as Sarika, a street-smart courtroom stenographer with secrets of her own. “The characters of Sonakshi and Jyotika come from different economic backgrounds. Yet, both of them are driven by ambition,” she says. While Sonakshi’s family is affluent, Jyotika has to support her family with her modest income. While Sonakshi is eager to prove herself worthy of joining her father’s law firm, Jyotika wants that extra money beyond her regular income so that she can provide better education for her daughter.
About the casting, Ashwiny says, “In this film, there is no character that stands out as the hero. Everyone is there to support and encourage each other. That was the camaraderie between Sonakshi and Jyotika too. Jyotika wanted to be part of stories that would give her the opportunity to showcase the range of her acting. Similarly, though Sonakshi is a popular Bollywood star, she believes in telling significant social stories like System.”
Ashwiny credits Harman Baweja, the film’s co-writer and co-producer, for the casting of Gowarikar. They were looking for someone “who has a soft face but can also be gritty” and is tall enough to play Sonakshi’s father. When Baweja suggested Gowarikar’s name, Ashwiny got excited. The Lagaan (2001) and Swades (2004) director, who had appreciated Ashwiny’s work in the past, soon came on board.
As a filmmaker, Ashwiny believes it is necessary to keep questioning the intent behind making movies. “Yes, I want to entertain. There are various kinds of movies that are entertaining and will get you box-office results. Then, there are movies that are middle-of-the-road cinema. That’s something I keep talking about because we want to tell certain stories. Through these movies, I want to show a perspective regarding how life can be,” says the director who studied commercial arts from Mumbai’s Sophia Polytechnic and worked with advertising agency Leo Burnett (India) before making her feature film debut in 2016.
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To contemporary Indian cinema, Ashwiny has added some fascinating women characters and celebrated their journeys. While in Nil Battey Sannata, Chanda (Swara Bhaskar) is a domestic help who wants a better future for her daughter, Bitti (Kriti Sanon) in Bareilly Ki Barfi is a small-town young woman asserting her choices, and her last feature, Panga, had Kangana Ranaut play the Kabaddi player Jaya, reclaiming her place in the world of sports after embracing motherhood. “When you come from a certain section of society, and I consider myself to be from a middle-class background, you observe people around you. I have always been a big believer that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, you always have the right to dream and have a place in society,” she says.
After a successful career in advertising spanning nearly 15 years, what Ashwiny finds fulfilling is that her stories have connected with audiences from different walks of life. “It does not matter if I am known as long as my films are appreciated,” says Ashwiny, who is giving a talk at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management’s Indian Business Conference on May 17, and doing an interaction after the screening of Bareilly Ki Barfi.
Her love for telling stories and supporting storytellers has prodded her to be an active producer. She co-founded Earthsky Pictures, a production company, with her husband in 2018. In 2023, Tarla, Tumse Na Ho Payega and Bawaal, which are produced by her, were released.
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“I love when people strive and excel. It thrills me to identify talent, bring people together and turn the process of making a movie into a joyride,” says Ashwiny, who wishes to carry on directing as well as producing.
Being an art director, Ashwiny would, in the future, like to explore a subject that’s art-heavy. She is already working on a couple of movies, including a love story. A fan of popular animation movies such as Finding Nemo (2003), The Lion King (2019) and Ratatouille (2007), she wishes to direct one some day. “I want to tell a story in its purest form and transport the audience to a beautiful world.”
