Top ten B’wood imaginary hit pairs

A look at the hot star combinations that would work great on screen

Noticed casually that while Deepika Padukone has had a great 2013 and done enough cinema with the Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan, she is still to share space with the other Khans: Aamir and Salman. Surely they would be milestones in her career and this got me thinking on casting coups that are waiting to happen. Here is a list of ten casting coups- albeit imaginary.

1. Deepika–Aamir: Two favs with the box- office. Both have individually ruled the box-office with amazing success stories in the year that was. Both actors who can move into most traditional Bollywood roles with ease.

2. Deepika–Salman: After lungi dance, the next stop is obviously the ‘Dabangg’ dance. She needs to move into the space that Khan has shared with Sonakshi and prove that the shirtless Khan and long leg lass make a cinematic dynamo.

3. Ranbir-Kareena: The Kapoor siblings are Dame Luck’s chosen favourites. They have built carefully crafted space from themselves and enjoyed the luxury of acceptance not just as stars but actors with repute. Zoya Akthar tried to get them together in a script, but failed. It would be great to see the siblings share cinematic space- as siblings when the two are in the prime of their career.

4. Soha–Saif: Another sibling combination that would surely be interesting to see onscreen. The tongue-in-cheek Nawab and his extremely talented sister need a good script to take them together to a tryst at the theatres. Both have a style quotient that can be well drawn into a urbane tale. The cream to the menu would be to have the great La Tagore too in the script.

5. Amitabh–Rekha: They came together as Do Anjaane in 1976 and since spread a web of cinematic magic. The Shahenshah and the Mystique Marvel. After the Yash Raj ‘Silsila’ and beyond, the fans have not seen them together sharing screen space. This could be winner all the way.

6. Aamir-Shah Rukh: The two reigning Moghuls at the box office would require a script that justifies their presence. Will Salem-Javed wake up to give us a dhamaka filled script? Will some one dare to make a ‘Sangam’ in style and content to justify the coming together of the said stars like Mehboob Khan who got Dilip and Raj Kapoor together? Let us wait in hope.

7. Shah Rukh-Aishwarya: The pair was not to be, after the fiasco on the sets of an Aziz Mirza film set. Rani Mukherjee walked in and out went the beau never to do a film with SRK. They did share screen space though earlier: once as siblings (Josh) and another time as a pair whose love was a tragedy (Mohabattein) . After all the cold war, the pair could be a casting coup if a filmmaker dares.

8. Aamir–Aishwarya: The choosy Mr. Perfectionist and the equally choosy Ms World, strangely did not have a filmmaker with a script to accommodate the presence of the two unquestionable star draws. An imaginative or adventurous filmmaker may still choose to knock on the door of the two magical doors of success and get them under a common umbrella and script. Till then, we keep our fingers crossed.

9. Amitabh-Sushmita: The master of sophistication and the Diva did work together in ‘Aankhen’ which was an interesting film that went unnoticed. However, this is one pair of style and class that should get an Aditya Chopra to work on. They both ooze stardom and class. It would be out misfortune if their respective career routes do not meet again

10. Ranbir- Shahid Kapoor: Two guys who seemingly share a surname may seem as different as chalk and cheese. Yet both have many things in common including talent tremendous screen presence and dancing skill sets. It would be interesting to see them do a light hearted film together (not that either cannot do dramatic roles!) but it would be wonderful if Raj Kumar Santoshi revisits ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ with them or even thinks of a sequel with them.

Combinations is a matter of conjecture and this is what comes to mind. May be others. If this is not the ten best in the contemporary scenario, they surely are ten very interesting possibilities.