Gen Z watches Silsila: Came for Rekha-Amitabh chemistry, left questioning uncomfortable choices

One of the primary reasons why I picked Silsila for another edition of the GenZ reacts series, was the real-life intrigue around Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bachchan-Rekha’s complicated equation. What was it about Rekha and Amitabh’s on-screen pairing that fascinated the audience and led to such scrutiny? I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Watching it in 2026, I could understand the curiosity the audience might have had, back in the 1980s. On Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday today, I, a GenZ, watched his 1981 film Silsila.

The Yash Chopra-directed film explores themes of love, social duty, sacrifice, and extramarital affairs, and is the kind of 3-hour binge I was hoping for over the weekend. Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) marries Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), after her fiancee and his brother Shekhar’s (Shashi Kapoor) accidental death. Amit makes the sacrifice as his social duty, despite being in love with Chandni (Rekha), who moves on and gets married to Dr Anand (Sanjeev Kumar). When Vijay and Chandni bump into each other, they start an affair that risks both their marriages.

The Amitabh-Rekha-Jaya casting

During the shoot of the film, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Rekha were under media scrutiny because of their alleged real-life love triangle. After watching Silsila, I realised why every Boomer goes on an on about the trio’s equation with each other.

Chopra had earlier opened up about this stunt casting, and how it was supposed to add a layer to the film’s plot about an extramarital affair with real-life gossip. Silsila also turned out to be the last film Rekha and Big B did together. Their on-screen chemistry with romantic scenes and beautiful songs made the film an even better watch.

In an interview with Vickey Lalwani years ago, late actor Sanjeev Kumar’s biographer, Hanif Zaveri, and his niece, Jigna, had recalled how Jaya Bachchan wasn’t agreeing to the film. “Yash Chopra knew that Sanjeev Kumar thought of Jaya as his sister, so he asked him to put in a good word. She agreed to do the film, but put forward one condition. She said that she would always be present on set, even when she wasn’t required. Because of Rekha, obviously,” they revealed.

Film’s humour

While the opening scene of Shashi Kapoor’s character Shekhar and Shobha had me hooked, it was the awkward jokes that made me look away with cringe. Silsila’s humour didn’t always land as intended. Some of the apparently cheeky exchanges between brothers Shekhar and Vijay felt low-key cheap and annoying. For instance, the brothers joking about who will bend down to pick up the soap while bathing together, would seem rather lame today. The sequence also raised a major question in my mind – why are two grown men bathing together in the first place?

ALSO READ | Madhuri Dixit on confrontation scene with Aishwarya Rai in Devdas: ‘Reminded me of Silsila’

Story continues below this ad

The film’s broader exploration of infidelity were way ahead of its time. However, there were certain questionable scenes that disturbed me. Dialogues like ‘Ladki toh paraye ghar ki amanat hai’ instantly remind you that its an old era film. It is hard to believe that such a statement would not receive any backlash from the audience. In 2026, a line suggesting that a daughter is merely someone else’s property would not have been toleration, and likely trigger debates about patriarchy and sexism on social media.

Moral complexity

After watching Silsila, Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (starring Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, and Preity Zinta), which also explores infidelity, looks vanilla by comparison. Silsila ran, so KANK could walk. The moral complexity of Amit’s decision to marry Shobha and then cheat on her with his former girlfriend, created a pre-bias in my mind about the film.

During the entire second half of the Silsila, I kept thinking why Amit just couldn’t open up about his girlfriend Chandni to Shobha, before agreeing to marry her after Shekhar’s sudden death. And even if he didn’t admit because of a certain social responsibility towards Shekhar’s unborn child with Shobha, him driving rashly while thinking about Chandni didn’t help. Eventually, Shobha suffers a miscarriage due to the crash, defeated the whole purpose of their marriage.

Amit and Chandni’s affair is giftwrapped in poetry, scenic locations and Shiv-Hari’s memorable music. But, is Amit thinking of the consequences of stepping out of his marriage?

Story continues below this ad

Disappointing climax

After the emotional damage Amit and Chandni have caused themselves and their spouses, they eventually decide to part ways. So basically, Yash Chopra was telling people that after they’ve cheated on their partners, they can just go back to their lives to prioritise ‘duty’ and ‘responsibility’? More like, ‘burden’ and ‘obligation’. The ending felt quite disappointing. After all that they went through, it would’ve been way more fascinating to see Amit and Chandni together, after all.

To be completely fair, Silsila comes with its own strengths. The music remains timeless, with songs like “Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum”, “Dekha Ek Khwab” and “Neela Aasman So Gaya”. Watching Silsila in 2026, I could appreciate the music, the beautiful locations and the ambition to showcase a complicated love triangle. I could also relate with the audiences who found it fascinating. However, I struggled to embrace their romance as the film’s emotional centre.