Rekha-Amitabh's 'Silsila' persists?

It is extremely difficult to lay some ghosts in Bollywood. One such came back to gatecrash Shabana Azmi's 60th birthday bash when the Bachchans, Bollywood’s first family and actor Rekha bumped into each other.

For the uninitiated, Bollywood actors Rekha and the much-married Amitabh Bachchan were reportedly in a brief relationship in the early 1980s and ever since their ‘affair’ came to an end, they have not worked together professionally since 1981's 'Silsila' (loosely translatable as situation), taking pains to avoid each other in public.

So when Rekha took the initiative to greet the Bachchans at fellow actor Azmi’s birthday party, it was a bit of an anti-climax to watch Amitabh Bachchan walk away from the group to circulate among other guests, thus denying the shutterbugs a 'picture-perfect' moment.

Big B would probably tweet 'been there, done that' since it was an action replay of the famous incident that took place during the 54th Filmfare Awards night in February 2009. On that occasion too, Bachchan chose to get up and walk away rather than greet Rekha in public.

But their joint presence at any event is a miracle as they have always taken extreme care not to move in the same social circuit or even be seen in the same frame in public. In fact, according to rumours, they always planned their entry and exits at industry events in such a way that they would be mere ships passing in the dark.

Therefore, when they are spotted together, oh not quite, at two events in two consecutive years, it is bound to lead to further speculation on whether age has mellowed their animosity towards each other and whether the Bachchan family and Rekha have decided to let bygones be bygones?

The fascination with the duo still persists in the Indian filmgoers mind even though they were last seen together in the early 1980s in 'Silsila'. Rekha played Bachchan's love interest, while Bachchan's real-life wife, Jaya Bhaduri, played his wife. It was the most 'scandalous' of their films together, insiders say.

Given the sizzling on-screen as well as off-screen chemistry between Rekha and Bachchan and the recent thaw, should the public expect the duo to collaborate, if only professionally? And will producer-director Karan Johar please do the honours? After all, there's enough raw material in Shobhaa Dé's "Starry Nights".

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