In my opinion, the movie was nowhere near the real-life affair of Amitabh & Rekha. It was utterly Jaya’s fault in the movie. She crossed the limits with Shashi Kapoor in the first instant. and then imposed herself on Amitabh. without even caring for his emotions. In other words, she took Amitabh for granted. At the same time, Amitabh is shown to be intimate with both - Rekha & Jaya. as Jaya is shown to be pregnant towards the end of the movie. Amitabh should be awarded at the end of the movie for maintaining such a perfect timing & being 100% fertile:-(
Above all this, Yash Chopra was always fascinated with the idea of unwed motherhood. Look at his films like Dhool ka Phool, Trishul, etc. He always portrays the unwed mother as innocent. I agree to the fact that It’s wrong on the part of the illegitimate father to dump the mother; but the mother should also think twice before getting intimate to such an extent before marriage. I pity those who cannot exercise a control over their lust.
I am happy that the modern-day movies do not show this pre-marital pregnancy with such a pomp & show.
As far as Silsila is concerned, I find all the characters emotional duffers. In actual life, one needs to strike a balance between emotions and a practical approach. The four of them(Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Jaya, Amitabh) are behaving such that there is no world beyond their’larger-than-life’ love. And the audience also gets swayed by these artificial tear-jerkers.
Music was the only saving grace. Thumbs up to Maestros Shiv-Hari.