In 1968 came the hit musical Aulad, in which comedian Mehmood asks his lady love, “Jodi hamaari jamenga kaise jaani?” (How will our pairing work?)
Much in the same way, some pairings in Hindi cinema have been novel, oddball or even absurd, depending on the reasons for their coming together. And while some have worked spectacularly, others have not.
Producer Karan Johar recently announced a casting coup for his new production ‘Jug Jugg Jiyo’ (meaning ‘May you live long’) helmed by director Raj Mehta.
He has cast Anil Kapoor and Neetu Singh together. Neetu appeared in Hindi cinema as a lead actress in 1973, Anil almost a decade later. In any case, they can hardly be described as contemporaries. Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani play the younger couple in the film.
Neetu shared a heartfelt note to late husband Rishi Kapoor for “always being there” as she left for the first schedule. She also thanked her children Ranbir and Riddhima Kapoor for encouraging her to return to work.
The Anil-Neetu team is but the latest in a string of unusual pairs over the decades. Neetu’s husband Rishi Kapoor made his debut just three and five years, respectively, after Raakhee (1970) and Hema Malini (1968).
But in terms of his youthful romantic image, and the kind of movies he chose, he was never considered a suitable hero for them. They were into heroes like Shashi Kapoor and Dharmendra.
In fact, in his long peak phase of 20 years, Rishi first came together with Rakhee in ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ in 1976. He played her son. And just a year later, the film’s producer Yash Chopra cast her as an older woman in love with him, and Neetu played his wife. The film was ‘Doosra Aadmi’.
Shashi Kapoor, Rishi’s real-life uncle, was Raakhee’s lover who dies, leading to Raakhee yearning for a man with similar looks.
Hema never co-starred with Rishi until ‘Ek Chaddar Maili Si’ (1986), in which she is forced to marry him as the widow of his elder brother. In the film, Rishi is shown as 10 years younger than her.
Ageing and fading actors often formed this kind of pairing: Hema herself had her first hero in Rishi’s dad Raj Kapoor (‘Sapnon Ka Saudagar’), 23 years after the latter’s debut!
Dev Anand, who like Raj arrived in 1946, was shown in “reel love” with actresses like Tina Munim in
‘Des Pardes’, Padmini Kolhapure in ‘Swami Dada’ (1982) and starlet Sabrina in ‘Main Solah Baras Ki’ (1998) — all his own productions! Tabu was introduced as an adolescent in love with him, playing her professor, in ‘Hum Naujawan’ (1986)!
Dilip Kumar (debut in 1944) went on to co-star romantically with Leena Chandavarkar (1969) in ‘Bairaag’, Raakhee (debut in 1970) in ‘Shakti’ and even Rekha (1970) in ‘Qila’ and ‘Aag Ka Darya’, the last two being 1990s releases. He played a father in the last three films, but then the actresses had to play characters older than their age!
Much the same applied to the leading ladies. Nanda, whose first adult film was in 1956, worked with Navin Nischol (‘Chhalia’) and Vinod Mehra (‘Jurm Aur Saza’), and they both were heroes who had debuted in the early 1970s.
Asha Parekh worked with Navin in ‘Nadaan’ and with a just-off-the-grid Vijay Arora in ‘Rakhi Aur Hathkadi’, his second release.
Jeetendra (debut in 1964) was going through a spate of flops in 1972 and Sadhana (debut in 1960) was his heroine. Because of that, he was replaced by the baby-faced 1971 debutante Anil Dhawan in ‘Mehfil’.
However, there were films where the roles dictated such combinations. Amitabh Bachchan romanced Tabu in the 2007 ‘Cheeni Kum’, as the hero falls in love with a younger Tabu, and he had to be shown to be older than her reel father by just a couple of years!
In ‘Black’ (2005), as the ageing coach of the visually and acoustically challenged Rani Mukerji, Amitabh succumbs to a moment of temptation and they kiss, though they are not shown in love.
As the unscrupulous young jaggery trader in the 1973 ‘Saudagar’, Amitabh is also shown marrying and then divorcing an older widow (played by Nutan) for his selfish ends.
Nargis, whose first lead film was in 1943, falls for a young man, played by Feroz Khan, in her home production ‘Raat Aur Din’ (1976). She won the National award. However, Feroz had appeared as a hero just five years earlier.