Time definitely changes a lot of equations. Any youngster watching Welcome Back today would think Anil Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia are senior artistes who must have been great friends and co-stars at one time.

The truth, however, is that when the two of them were young actors and were paired together in films like Feroz Khan's Janbaaz , Dimple simply didn't like Anil Kapoor. During the filming of a lovemaking scene on a bed of hay for Janbaaz, Feroz had wanted Dimple and Anil to do some torrid kissing. Neither of them shied away from such scenes and had done it before with several other co-stars (for example, Dimple and Rishi Kapoor in Sagar ).

But when Anil and Dimple had to pucker up for Janbaaz , she had just embarked on a new relationship with Sunny Deol. Dimple, however, didn't turn coy because she had a steady Jat boyfriend on the scene. Nor did she refuse to perform the scenes FK had in mind. But she grimaced through it because Sunny and Anil were rivals at the box office. Kapoor and Deol had done a few films together but they had clashed over childish stuff like who'll figure first in the credit titles.

During the making of Janbaaz , Anil was on the threshold of a sparkling career and was gung-ho about the reception from the film industry. Every time a bigtime filmmaker signed him, he would beam with happiness and share the news with everybody around. He had plenty to feel good about. Big names of the day like Subhash Ghai, Vinod Chopra, Yash Chopra and Inder Kumar had all shown interest in him. But not everybody was on his side.

While shooting on Feroz Khan's sprawling, sophisticated farm off Bangalore (as it was then called), the haystack scene was particularly funny. FK had erected a loft and the stars had to go up there, pretend to whip up passion before the camera and come down. In between shots, Dimple would come down muttering. Apparently, Anil was as usual enumerating all the big films he was signing and grinning, "Wish me luck, yaar ." That was Anil Kapoor of yore when he was at the starting point of his career. Enthusiastic and always talking about his career, it was a standard pattern for Anil Kapoor to ask all his friends and co-stars to "pray for me" or "wish me luck".

It bugged Dimple. "Why should I keep my fingers crossed for him?" she demanded tartly. "He's my guy's competitor. Why would I be on his side?"

It may sound silly but they were young and it showed in the way they handled loyalty, rivalry and relationships. Today, when both of them are inching towards the 60 mark, there's no question of such intense feelings. Sunny is no threat to Anil or vice versa and Anil is not going to ask his co-stars to wish him luck for a brilliant career. Therefore, Welcome Back was not the return of two old friends to a common project but the coming together of two actors who went their different ways, survived several ups and downs, mellowed over the years and worked without rancour.

Rancour is something that estranged in-laws Zarine Khan and Pinkie Roshan don't have for each other. Although their children Sussanne and Hrithik have bid each other goodbye, these two old Juhu friends aren't letting it come between them. Common friends like Renu Chopra are not made to choose between the two when they draw up a guest list for a ladies' lunch or a dinner party. If Zarine and Pinkie are invited to the same event, they amicably come under the same roof. For that matter, even when Zarine launched a book on Mughlai cooking, Pinkie turned up to wish her luck.

By the way, book launches are taking on filmic tones. After author Amish Tripathi did it for his Shiva trilogy, Shantanu Dhar, the writer of a vampire trilogy, has also made a trailer for his second book, Code Red . It has been directed by feature filmmaker Kabir Sadanand and the launch of the trailer has been scheduled as an event at the Pune International lit fest. The writer and his HOG (Harley Davidson Owners' Group of bikers) feature in the trailer which has been made like a feature film promo. Apart from posters that have been printed and pasted at various venues of the city, Shantanu and his bikers also plan to vroom into the event and make a noise about the book. The question is, will high decibels translate into an increase in the number of readers?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author