/> If cine buffs are asked to vote for one single -most powerful performing pair in Hindi cinema it would have to be Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi.

Together, they changed the face, quality content and ramifications of Hindi cinema in the 1970s with an endless outpouring of masterpieces like Paar, Sparsh, Khandhar, Masoom, Ek Pal and Khamosh.

Then the two stalwarts drifted apart, especially after Naseer in one of his humorously unguarded moments said Shabana was completely in love with herself. The last film the dynamic duo did together was Gulzar's unreleased Libaas in 1988.

While Shabana never stopped craving to be in another film with her favourite co-star Naseer was far more cautious.

"I can't do just any film with Shabana just because she's keen to work with me. The vehicle is to justify our collective presence,"Naseer said.

That vehicle is finally here. Yes, Shabana and Naseer get together after 18 years in debutant director Rohit Roy's 10-minute short-film entitled Rice Plate. It will form part of a series entitled Dus Kahaniyam.

The film being shot on Monday (7 May) goes into the touchy topic of the communal divide in Mumbai.

Says producer Sanjay Gupta, "Rohit doesn't know how lucky he is. In all these years I've waited to direct Naseer and Shabana, and never got the chance. I started my career as an assistant to Pankuj Parasher in Jalwa where Naseer was the hero. Today I'm producing a film where he stars. Wow!"

habana who plays an orthodox Tamil Brahmin in Rice Plate has been preparing for the past two weeks, visiting Tamil women getting their accent tone and gait right. This isn't the first time she plays a Tamilian. In Mahesh Dattani's Morning Raga she was again a Tamil woman.

Naseer plays a Muslim man. The film to be shot on the Bandra railway station is about a life-changing chance encounter between these two strangers from totally different cultural zones.

"What's truly remarkable about this short film is that neither Naseer nor Shabana will speak a word !"

Producer Sanjay Gupta's revelation leaves one speechless.