Mumbai, April 22 (IANS) Rubbishing rumours that Sony TV's 'Amber Dhara' series about the life and tears of conjoined twins is borrowed from Jaya Bachchan's play 'Laali-Leela', its creative director Siddharth Tiwari says the inspiration was a pair of Canadian twins.

'My creative partner Vikas Seth and I hadn't even heard of 'Laali-Leela' when we decided to make 'Amber Dhara'. We went to see the play after we wrote the soap,' Tiwari told IANS.

'We did extensive research on conjoined twins, studied several cases. Our main source of inspiration was these Canadian twins who've lived together all their lives. One plays the guitar, the other sings, just like Amber and Dhara. Also, let me add, Siamese twins on screen date back to 1951 when Daisy and Violet Hilton starred in 'Chained For Life',' he added.

So who are the actresses playing Amber and Dhara and where did they come from?

'As far as we're concerned, they're Amber and Dhara, and that's how we want the audience to see them. We auditioned a large number of girls without telling them what they've to play. And we decided not to cast identical twins. It would've become very boring for viewers to watch the same face twice over in almost every frame, and also hard to tell them apart.'

What if one of the girls playing the conjoined twins decides to walk out of the show?

'Firstly, the two girls chosen to play Amber and Dhara have been together shooting and just getting to know each other for months. They're like real-life sisters and have very little contact with the world outside their serials. Secondly, both the girls are under contract. They can leave at their own risk.'