Pooja Bhatt recently gave Bollywood fans something to smile about. The actor-turned-filmmaker posted a set of old photographs featuring herself with Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan, and the internet hasn't quite recovered since.
The photos, shot by the legendary photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha at his spacious home on Hughes Road, have a charm that only old Bollywood pictures seem to carry. Both Pooja and a young Aamir are dressed in white, looking effortlessly candid. These are the kind of shots that feel like stolen moments rather than a planned shoot.
Pooja was a little coy about the backstory, writing alongside the post: "Someday I will share the story behind these impromptu photos shot on Gautam Rajadhyaksha's balcony, in his sprawling home on Hughes road. But not yet.. Not just yet Will ensure I jog Aamir's memory before that."
Naturally, fans flooded the comments, with many drawing the obvious connection: the two actors starred together in the 1991 romantic hit Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, directed by Pooja's father Mahesh Bhatt. The film, which also featured Anupam Kher, became one of Hindi cinema's most beloved love stories. Aamir played a warm-hearted journalist named Raghu Jetley, while Pooja took on the role of Pooja Dharamchand, a runaway heiress with money and a lot on her mind.
Both actors were relatively early in their careers at the time. Pooja had made her debut just two years earlier in Daddy (1989), while Aamir had burst onto the scene with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in 1988 alongside Juhi Chawla.
The man behind the lens, Gautam Rajadhyaksha, was among the most celebrated photographers Bollywood ever had, responsible for some of the most iconic portraits of an entire generation of stars. He passed away in September 2011 following a cardiac arrest, but his work continues to live on in throwbacks exactly like this one.
As for where the two are now, Pooja has kept busy with Bombay Begums and Bigg Boss OTT 2, while Aamir has been channeling his energy into his son Junaid's recent release Ek Din, opposite Sai Pallavi.