This afternoon, I was deciding between a nap and watching a movie and of course movie won. I decided to watch one of the oldies and decided on the amazing casting coup that was Silsila. Silsila is the only movie where reel life sort of imitates real life what with the Jaya-Amit-Rekha triangle being played out on the big screen. But more on that gossip later.
The movie starts out as a story about 2 brothers Shekhar and Amit (played by the handsome Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan) who are very close in age and more friends than brothers. Shekhar is an airforce pilot and is in love with Shobha (Jaya Bhaduri) while Amit is in love with Chandni (a very beautiful Rekha). Shekhar is killed in a plane crash leaving behind a pregnant Shobha... out of a sense of moral duty, Amit gets married to Shobha (these were times when being an unwed mother was the worst taboo ever - it is probably still the case in most of India except for the big cities). This news devastates Chandni who goes on to marry a doctor played by Sanjeev Kumar. Shobha loses the baby - Amit and Shobha who got married for the child now have no reason to really be together - at some level Amit also resents the fact that he had to forget his dreams to be with Shobha. Amit and Chandni then cross paths and despite being married, start having a secret affair. What follows makes up the crux of the movie - will Amit stay with his wife or will he leave her and be reunited with Chandni.
The movie has beautiful songs - some of my faves are the title song "Dekha ek khwab" and "Ye kahan aa gaye hum" and of course the famous "Rang Barse". The movie had me in splits at some scenes where Rekha is jogging looking absolutely glamorous with a scarf to boot and her long hair flowing loose, there was another shot with Amitabh and Rekha jogging together and Amitabh wearing this really tight black pair of shorts - but all in all it was a pleasure to watch the sizzling chemistry between Rekha and Amitabh. We all know that in real life Amitabh stayed with his wife and has never spoken publicly about his rumoured affair with Rekha where as she has been more forthcoming in many interviews and has spoken about her respect for Amitji (she always refers to him as "Him") and the reason I know this is because I was an avid reader of Stardust (India's premier gossip mag in those days) in my teen years. The movie surprisingly flopped at the time of its release - I don't think many people could understand the ending and why the main protagonists did what they did. Yash Chopra achieved a brilliant casting coup with this movie. This was also the last movie that Amitabh and Rekha did together thus ending the iconic reel-life pairing.
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