/> Some exceptionally successful pairs just go wrong, for mysterious reasons. Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra called it quits after four super-hits in a row.

Earlier, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini were the biggest individual stars of the 1970s. And though they did hits like Naseeb and Kasauti together they never clicked as a pair until Baghban many years after their prime.

Similarly Rajesh Khanna and Jaya Bhaduri....both were superstars in their own right in the first half of the 1970s. But they never worked together. Of course they were cast in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Bawarchi. But not as a lead pair.

Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi are an exceptional jodi. But their personal rapport was always underlined by a sense of wry rivalry. Some years ago Naseer in fact made some uncharitable remarks about Shabana's ostensibly excessive self-esteem.

But Shabana never reacted. To arthouse cinema in India they are the touchstones of histrionics. Their collaboration stretches into a glorious gallery of 14 films beginning with Shyam Benegal's Nishant in 1976 and stretching into a gallery of great films including Gouatm Ghose's Paar, Shekhar Kapoor's Masoom and Kalpana Lajmi's Ek Pal.

The last film in which Indian cinema's most productive star-pair was seen together was Vijaya Mehta's Pestonjee in 1987.

What went wrong? "Nothing! Absolutely nothing," guffaws Naseer. "I know Shabana has been expressing her desire to work with me once again. She feels it's about time. But I've to be sure about what we do together."

He explains, "The right part hasn't come along recently. Some projects fell through. Others never materialized. She accuses me of not wanting to work with her. Why should I do that? Why should I do a film just because she's in it?

I don't want to do crap with her. But it'll happen again. I somehow have the feeling that all these years when we haven't worked together has done our pair a whole lot of good."

Rituparno Ghosh has cast Shabana and Naseer in his forthcoming London Dreams. "But I don't think we've any scenes together at all," says Naseer. While Shabana will play Soha's grandmother, Naseer will be her benefactor.

So when do audiences get to see the Naseer-Shabana magic in full bloom? They've an unreleased film together which could even today rekindle the pair's combined chemistry.

The film Gulzar's Libaas was completed in 1991. A rare film that's set in the bohemian world of Mumbai's Hindi theatre, it features Shabana, Naseer and Raj Babbar in a very unusual love triangle.

The film's director Gulzar goes gooey-eyed over the film. "I don't know what happened to Libaas. You'll have to ask the producer Vikas Mohan why he never released it.

It's a very precious film because it's the only feature film that I did with Naseer apart from Ijaazat which is another of my personal favourites. We've done a very special project together on television, and that was Mirza Ghalib. With Shabana I had earlier done Namkeen.

But directing them together was a great pleasure. They're both at their best in this film because individually and apart they're among the best talent Hindi cinema has produced."

So what prevents Naseer-Shabana's fans from experiencing Libaas ? "It could be revived on television if not in theatres," suggests Gulzar.