Two weeks ago, when a multitude of media folk with mikes and cameras were not hanging around outside, Aditya Chopra did something very quietly. No, he didn’t wed Rani Mukerji. For the first time, he threw an ice-breaking party. And why nobody got even a whiff of it was because Adi, very characteristically, kept it completely under wraps.

In the last few years, a few filmmakers like Yash Raj Films and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have got their main cast to come together for several readings of the script before actually going on the floor and shooting their films. This helps all the lead players to prep for their respective roles and get comfortable with one another.

But Aditya Chopra went a step ahead this time and threw an ice-breaker where every person associated with his new film Gunday drank, ate, danced and partied the night away. There was no script reading that evening, only pure getting-to-know-one-another fun and the breaking down of barriers, if any. And he didn’t restrict it to just his actors. Adi got every technician and artiste who is working on Gunday to party together so that camaraderie could be established before filming. In other words, there will be no strangers on the set when shooting begins; they will all be people who have spent a pleasant evening together.

It is a great idea because Gunday will also be one of the rare films in recent times that will star two heroes of almost equal standing in two strongly written roles. The 70s, 80s and 90s saw Amitabh Bachchan-Shashi Kapoor (Deewaar), Amitabh-Dharmendra (Sholay), Amitabh-Vinod Khanna (Muqaddar Ka Sikandar), Amitabh-Rajesh Khanna (Namak Haram), Amitabh-Shatrughan Sinha (Dostana), Jeetendra-Shatrughan (Khudgarz), Aamir Khan-Salman (Andaz Apna Apna) and Shah Rukh-Salman (Karan Arjun, Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam) battling out on film, pitching their histrionics before the camera.

Most of these two-hero films (with the exception of Andaz Apna Apna) did extremely well, especially since they brought together actors of more or less equal repute and had them confront each other dramatically.

A few times they led to star wars too, which added spice to the proceedings. When Amitabh Bachchan, not yet the superstar, had reported for work towards the end of Namak Haram, he had recoiled hurt at seeing Rajesh Khanna’s garlanded portrait on the set. It meant that Hrishikesh Mukherjee had conceded the point to the reigning superstar, Rajesh Khanna, because both heroes had wanted to die in the film and walk away with the sympathy!

That was really the beginning of the cold war between Amitabh and Rajesh which lasted as long as both of them were cast in lead parts. Curiously, once Amitabh attained superstar status himself, he did the same to Vinod Khanna. This time it was Prakash Mehra who was caught in the standoff between his two heroes. Once again, both sought sympathy and insisted on dying in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. The climax scenes were finally shot with a lot of tension because AB got to die in it and VK was miffed that he was forced to live.

The same impact is not made when there is clearly one main star and the other hero is cast in a parallel role like Shashi Kapoor was in most of his later films with Amitabh. An equally balanced two-hero film has a different appeal altogether and Aditya Chopra has got it right once again by starting one. It is rare in recent times and that itself will be its USP.

Interestingly, Gunday stars both Yash Raj discoveries, Ranveer Singh (Band Baajaa Baraat) and Arjun Kapoor (Ishaqzaade) and the battle begins there itself. With Yash Raj having recently created stars of its own (Ranveer, Arjun, Anushka, Parineeti), within the studio itself there are undercurrents of one-upmanship. You don’t have to look outside for competition.

Take Anushka Sharma and Parineeti Chopra, for instance. Anushka was the first Yash Raj discovery with five of their films under her belt, including one each for father (Yash Chopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan) and son (Adi’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi). Besides, she enjoyed, a spirited, bubbly image, a space which young Parineeti Chopra suddenly walked into and made her presence felt. In fact, in Ladies Vs Rickey Behl, it was newcomer Parineeti who walked away with all the applause and hearty reviews even though Anushka was its lead actress. By following it up with a feisty Ishaqzaade, which also did very well commercially, Parineeti is here to stay, sharing the same studio space in every conceivable way, with Anushka.

It will be nice to see Adi pitching both his protégées in one film; let’s hear the bugles.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is editor, The Film Street Journal