The superhit jodis of Bollywood

As yet another is coming to a close, it would be time for many to walk in pairs to celebrate the coming of the year ahead and look back at what was together. Talk of togetherness and we look at the ten teams that worked the magic in out cinema.:

1. Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar: Both bring a spirited zing to their screen presence and a robust healthy physical presence. They have done big hits like ‘Welcome’, ‘Singh is King’, ‘Namaste London’, ‘Teesmaar Khan’. In nine common outings they have hit the b.o. successfully over half a dozen times that qualifies them among the contemporary combos to be the most successful.

2. Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol: Arguably , the most successful team. They have yet to be collectively rejected at the box office. It was in 1993 that this pair came together in the Abbas Mastan came together. Ever since they were the film makers magic carpet to the bank. Never have the two done a film that has failed to attract mega bucks and the audience by the big numbers. With a 100% success rate, I’m sure Shah Rukh has to only call the actor in semi-retirement to come back and the two will get all the attention they have got.

3. Anil-Madhuri: The lady with the 1,000 watts smile and the guy with untiring commitment to work and experiment made such a splash at the bo that ‘dil dhak dhak karne laga’. Their first film together in 1987 - ‘Hifazat’ did not exactly set the box office ablaze but their 17 films together made the most accepted team of their times. Big hits like ‘Beta’, ‘Jamai Raja’, ‘Tezaab’, ‘Ram Lakhan’….. sure look at one and get the other too.

4. Rishi Neetu: This off screen and on screen couple shared a magic chemistry obviously on screen too. They did some horrendous films together ( eg. ‘Duniya Meri Jeb Mein’) and were also not really taken in a big way in the their last outing together ( ‘Besharm’). Yet the Kapoor magic and his svelte Begum were a very vibrant romantic pair in their times and they danced like magic together at a time when music dance and song were vital part of our cinema.

5. Amitabh–Rekha : An iconic pair that spells magic even if they attend an awards function years after they cast magic and intrigue together and left the centre stage for the younger ones . Rekha consciously and visibly changed after she did ‘Do Anjane ‘with Amit. Every time they did a film together , the smile remained plastered on the face of the producer. May be their swan song (thus far) was immediately not accepted by the audience. The ‘Silsila’ is still talked about.

6. Rajesh-Mumtaz: She saw the phenomenon and said ‘Bindiya Chamkegi’ and the producers believed every word of it. May be their ‘Prem Kahani’ was a big disappointment for Raj Khosla but most of their films from ‘Sacha Jhoota’ to their ‘bhangra dance: jai Jai Shiv Shanker’ was big time hit.

7. Rajesh- Sharmila: Not surprising that Rajesh makes it twice in the list. After all talk of romance and you cannot but place the phenomenon as king. He wooed the heroines with a magic that was sharply different from the hitherto successful body language of a Shammi or a musical Rajendra Kumar and who would he do with the heart in the right place but Sharmila Tagore. When he with characteristic head shake did a ‘Mere Sapno ki rani’ to a dimpled la Tagore, the country found a new love anthem.

8. Dharam-Hema: It was in the 1970s when film makers like Pramod Chakraborty got them together. ‘Tum Haseen Mein Jawan ‘the Jat told the orthodox Southie and love story not got successful but legendary. The chemistry was so perfect that the Jeets and the Sanjeevs had to give way. His charm and her aloof screen image worked wonders. A real ‘Sholay’ pair.

9. Raj Kapoor–Nargis: When the lyricist said: ‘Hum na rahenge tum na rahoge phir bhi rehenge nishaniyaan’, little did he know it was a perfect prediction. The scene in ‘Bobby’ where Rishi meets up Dimple at her residence is a canned record of how the two met . What films they made together!! ‘Andaz’, ‘Awaara’, ‘Chori chori’…..No pair has shared such perfect chemistry on screen as this. When Raj was asked, he said Krishna was his wife and Nargis his inspiration. The Inspiration and the Showman gave Hindi cinema some of its most romantic moments that every outing of theirs together is best described as ‘Raja ki ayegi barat’…

10. Dilip Kumar-Madhubala: The king of tragedy and the ethereal beauty gave us the motif of romance in Mughal-e-Azam. They also gave the tale of tragedy. It is a paradox that they could not do a ‘Naya Daur’. Old times!! The intensity of a love story that could not keep pace with its times… Great love stories are tragedies as is this. What a pair. An Amar pair of which an entire generation has no ‘Andaz’. It is a ‘Sangdil Tarana’ that is full of melancholy and a reiteration that our sweetest songs tell the saddest tales!!