Bollywood has a galaxy of stars (and starlets and bimbos and bimbettes). Some of them could shine on their own and some enhance their brightness by co-starring with brighter stars and blinding us with their ’’synergetic’’ brilliance.
In order to come with this list of Ten Best Pairs of Bollywood – my criteria was very simple. These couples left a lasting impression on me long after the scrolling of credits and “The End”. Irrespective of whether the movie was a hit or a flop or the number of times the couple acted together, the chemistry between them was so strong to warrant their inclusion in my list. Being mathematically inclined, I always believed that one plus one is two. In the of case of these complementing couples, 1+1=2+
Presented below is my personal choice in no particular order.
# 1. The Romantic Couple:
Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore. At the height of his career, Rajesh Khanna was “the phenomenon” and acted naturally in romantic roles. He was famous for crinkling his eyes and tilting his head just a wee bit between 3 and 4 degrees and she was the tigress with dimples. Some of their best films together were Aradhana, Daag, Safar, Amar Prem and Aavishkar.
# 2. The Dream Couple:
Dharmendra and Hema Malini. He was handsome and rugged , she was the dream girl. He has “sarson ka saag” and “makkai ki roti” for dinner and she has “idli-sambhar” for breakfast. Together they entertained us in films like Naya Zamana, Raja Jani, Seeta aur Geeta, Jugnu, Dost and Sholay. Offscreen they were romantically linked and in spite of Dharam being married, Hema agreed to be his second wife and society just accepted it. (however their love child Esha seems to be having an uphill battle)
# 3. Pati, Patni aur Woh:
Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri and Rekha. Amitabh is an action oriented hero and he can carry a film on his shoulders and more often than not, the female leads in his movies were mere decorative pieces with the exception of Jaya and Rekha. I still prefer Amitabh with Rekha – there was an air of risk which added to the romance. Together they gave us movies like Do Anjaane, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Mr.Natwarlal, Muqaddar Ka Sikander and Silsila. Silsila was supposed to be a showdown movie and Jaya got to keep her husband.
# 4. A Matter of Innocence:
Sachin and Sarika. Many of you may not have heard of this pair. They were like a pair of cooing pigeons doing gootur gootur. Both of them looked fresh and had that innocent look when acting together in movies like Geet Gaata Chal, Balika Badhu and Raksha Bandhan.
# 5. Jumping Jack and Thundering Thighs:
Jeetendra and Sridevi. Jeetendra was a “physical” actor and considered acting as a visit to the gym with running, jumping, rolling etc. He was the darling of the moviemakers from the south who starred in remakes opposite the femme fatale from the south – Sridevi. The union resulted in movies like Himmatwala, Mawaali and Tohfa.
# 6. Couple # 1:
Govinda and Karishma Kapoor. Karishma learnt dancing from Govinda and Govinda learnt beauty tips from Karishma. They performed together in time pass movies, which did not challenge the gray cells and had its usual quota of fast dances and stupid https://lyrics. The result was Hero #1, Coolie # 1, Raja Babu and Haseena Maan Jayegi.
# 7. The “Cho-Chweet” Couple:
Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh. It looked like they were having loads of fun acting together. It started with Khel Khel Mein (a brilliant adaptation of Good Children Don’t Kill) and followed it up with a string of movies like Rafoochakkar, Zahreela Insaan, Zinda Dil, Kabhi Kabhie, Amar Akbar Anthony, Doosara Aadmi, Jhoota Kahin Ka and Dhan Daulat. They married and Neetu retired from films.
# 8. The “Next-Door” Couple:
Amol Palekar and Vidya Sinha. Amol Palekar with his middle class looks was the typical boy-next-door and Vidya Sinha was the neighborly next-door-girl. A simple couple acted out simple day-to-day incidents in movies like Rajnigandha and Choti Si Baat which gave hope to millions of youngsters that one need not have good looks and tons of money to find love.
# 9. The “Artistic” Couple:
Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. In the parallel cinema of Art, they gave us excellent thought provoking movies like Nishaant, Aakrosh, Albert Pinto ko gussa kyun aata hain, Masoom, Mandi, Paar and Sparsh.
# 10. The “Generation-Gap” Couple:
Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman. Dev was old enough to be Zeenat’s grand father.
Dev was responsible for introducing Zeenat in Hare Rama Hare Krishna as his sister and she was contractually forced to “pair” with him. Even though Dev was past his prime and there is no love lost between me and Zeenat, yet somehow I found myself watching all their movies – Gambler, Heera Panna, Ishq Ishq, Ishq and Warrant.
One Plus One is indeed Two Plus. In the magical world of Bollywood, ek aur ek is gyaraah.