Not so hot on-screen couples

A BRITISH company recently ran a poll on the most unconvincing on-screen couples in Hollywood, and Star Wars duo Natalie Portman-Hayden Christensen topped the list, followed by real life former sweethearts Ben Affleck-J Lo in Gigli and Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut.

So, how important is it for onscreen pairs to get that hard-to describe chemistry ? "It's very important. If they're not comfortable with each other it shows on camera," says director Anurag Basu adding, "I took a lot of effort to get Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat to gel so that I could shoot Murder smoothly. In contrast, Irrfan Khan and Konkana Sen being great friends off-screen, just cruised through the shots in Life... in a Metro."

More than getting along off screen, director Indrajit Lankesh looks at how well the actors connect when the camera starts to roll.

"Sometimes being close in real life acts as a disadvantage while performing. Take Kajol and Ajay Devgan, for instance, or even Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Bachchan in Kyun Ho Gaya Naa during which they were together. It's up to the director to pick actors who may not like each other otherwise, but are on fire the minute you say 'action'," he says.

A dipstick survey asking film buffs to list Bollywood couples who failed to sizzle onscreen this year, put Amitabh Bachchan and Jiah Khan in Nishabd at the top.

"This was the worst on-screen pairing in recent times," says Anurag. Techie Aditya S agrees. "Nishabd had such a bold plot, it was important that the love between Amitabh and Jiah looked convincing. But RGV couldn't go beyond his aura and her legs," he says.

Aishwarya Bachchan's Are you like, checking me out?' line in Dhoom 2 didn't impress her fans either. Although Hrithik Roshan got all the cheers, the two together came a close second on the most unconvincing pair list. "Hrithik was hot, Ash cold," says executive Namrata Rao.

While it was Ben Affleck who landed two top 10 mentions in Hollywood, Ash figured again in the third spot, this time with her real life beau Abhishek in Guru. "I thought they were ok," says VJ Gaurav Kapur.

But ok wasn't good enough. "It was obvious they were cast because they were a couple," says movie-goer Ramya K. Freelance writer Rishi feels that real life couples should avoid being in the same film. "They assume they don't have to try too hard to get a scene going," he says. Unsurprisingly, the six couples of Salaam-e-Ishq —being one of the biggest flops this year —all get a mention at some point as implausible onscreen pairs.

But it's Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra who lead the pack. If sources are to be believed, Salman and Priyanka weren't on talking terms while shooting for the film. "It's no surprise considering how lifeless they looked together. It was irritating; it was the worst plot in the film," says Pooja Pratap, a media consultant.

I agree with most of them but Duggu and Aish?????I thought they totally burned the screen with their chemistry in Dhoom 2.They're one of the really hot pairs.I hope they rock Jodha Akbar as well!😛