This Valentine’s Day, Derek Bose takes a look at why romantic screen pairs are losing their spark

KAJOL's tentative return to the silver screen as Shah Rukh Khan’s romantic foil in My Name is Khan could not have been better timed. This is Valentine’s week and much is being made of whether they, as Bollywood’s favourite filmi jodi, would be able to revive the crackling chemistry they had shared in such blockbusters as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

It is unlikely. For one, My Name is Khan is no candyfloss movie comparable even remotely with those yesteryear hits. For another, both Shah Rukh and Kajol are now well past the age when they could play teen lovebirds with conviction. They have been cast as a mature married couple caught up with pressing issues related to their faith, racial profiling in the US (post- 9/11) and, of course, Asperger’s syndrome. As a single mother and Hindu, Kajol suitably complements Shah Rukh’s edgy performance as her Muslim husband with the autistic condition. The love angle here is only incidental.

Does this suggest curtains for screen couples?

Many feel they had become extinct long back, much as filmmakers keep pitching new names from time to time. Be it Sanjay Dutt-Madhuri Dixit (Saajan) or Aamir Khan-Juhi Chawla (Ishq), Salman Khan-Aishwarya Rai (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) or Emraan Hashmi-Mallika Sherawat (Murder), John Abraham-Bipasha Basu (Jism) or Shahid Kapur-Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met), nothing much has come out of their efforts. The latest to raise their hopes are the likes of Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone (Bachna Ae Haseeno) and Saif Ali Khan-Kareena (Kurbaan).

Clearly, our filmmakers labour under the mistaken notion that the off-screen romance of movie stars translates automatically into on-screen chemistry and, in turn, box-office success – as in the past. They do not realise that screen chemistry has nothing to do with acting skills. It is all about the screen space a pair gets to occupy which, in effect, adds that ‘extra dimension’ to their roles defined by the director. Call it charisma, physical compatibility, sex appeal, intensity quotient, the inexplicable X-factor`85It is a combination of all these elements that serves as a selling point for a movie and draws the public to the theatres.

In the days gone by, when the electronic and audio-visual media were still in their infancy, films served as the only window to what viewers, in their innocence, believed to be an extension of the private lives of the stars inhabiting them. Even an undercurrent of sexual tension between real-life lovers on screen fired public imagination and could be blown out of proportion. Raj Kapoor understood this best and as a clever manipulator of mass sentiments, had real-life sweetheart Nargis share screen space with him through a series of romantic melodramas – Aag, Barsaat, Andaz, Awara, Aah, Shri 420`85 But when he had a serious, non-romantic, issue-based film like Boot Polish (this was before Shri 420), he conveniently dropped Nargis. Significantly, after she married Sunil Dutt in 1957, the Raj-Nargis chemistry simply fizzled out.

Now compare this with the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai pairing, even before they got married. When J.P. Dutta brought them together in Umrao Jaan, far from any sparks flying, they came across as uncomfortable, if not self-conscious, in each other’s company. (Farooque Shaikh pulled off a far more convincing portrayal of Nawab Khan with Rekha in the Muzaffar Ali original.) There was no reason for the awkwardness between them because by then, they had already worked together in Dhai Akshar Prem Ke and Kuch Na Kaho, and danced to the folksy beats of Kajra Re in Bunty Aur Babli. That they are mismatches on screen was further established in Dhoom 2 when Hrithik Roshan stole the show from Abhishek with his scintillating performance as the anti-hero. Yet, filmmakers like Mani Ratnam are persisting with the duo.

What needs to be recognised is that Hindi cinema has changed and no longer are roles or characters as clearly defined as in the past. Nothing is in black and white. Audiences have become smart and demanding. Not many love stories are being made. As heroines get marginalised, actresses are losing their staying power. A Genelia D’Souza is cast with Imran Khan in Jaane Tu`85Ya Jaane Na and in her very next, Chance Pe Dance, she is Shahid Kapur’s love interest. Meanwhile, a film on an 11-year-old progeric child captures public imagination. Another film revolving around three college blokes goes on to make box-office history. Yet another, on two petty crooks mouthing expletives is running to full houses.

Do romantic jodis stand a chance in this scenario?

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