Hindi film actors, especially those pushing 40, tend to look for young untried co-stars to take away from their fast-fading youth. However, Bollywood history shows the newcomers benefit just as much.

Salman Khan's pairing with the young Sneha Ullal in "Lucky" brings this tradition alive once again.

Way back in 1968, the 45-year-old Raj Kapoor had paired himself with the sensational debutante, Hema Malini, who was barely 17 in "Sapnon Ka Saudagar". The film launched Hema as one of Hindi cinema's most successful female stars.

In the 1960s, Shammi Kapoor launched a number of new girls in the romantic lead opposite himself. Barring Kalpana, who couldn't make any headway after "Professor", all the girls who made their debut with Kapoor - Asha Parekh in "Dil Deke Dekho", Saira Banu in "Junglee", Sharmila Tagore in "Kashmir Ki Kali" - became huge successes.

In the 1970s, Shammi Kapoor's nephew Rishi Kapoor continued the tradition of launching new actresses. In fact, Rishi created a new record by playing the lead with more than two dozen debutante actresses. They included Dimple Kapadia ("Bobby"), Naseem ("Kabhie Kabhie"), Shoma Anand ("Barood"), Jaya Prada ("Sargam"), Tabu ("Pehla Pehla Pyar"), Ranjeeta Kaur ("Laila Majnu"), Kajal Kiron ("Hum Kissise Kam Nahin") and Urmila Matondkar ("Shriman Ashique").

Of them, most girls went on to become big heroines during their times. Rishi Kapoor takes great pride in telling you about his "star-making track record".

Other big stars during Kapoor's time preferred to pair themselves with marquee names. Rajesh Khanna seldom did a film with a newcomer except Simple Kapadia in Shakti Samanta's "Anurodh". And she is his sister-in-law.

Curiously, Ajay Devgan also recently masterminded a role for his sister-in-law Tanisha in Mani Shankar's "Tango Charlie", though she was not paired with him in the film.

Not surprisingly, the trend of superstars nurturing new talent is on the wane. You'll seldom see the Khans getting into a debutante's area for romantic appeal, though Aamir Khan paired himself with newcomer Gracy Singh in "Lagaan" and Shah Rukh Khan was seen with debutante Gayatri Joshi in "Swades".

Salman's recent track record shows him making an effort to find newer untried girls. He was with debutante Bhumika Chawla in "Tere Naam". He will be seen with real-life love interest Katrina Kaif in David Dhawan's new comedy and of course the Aishwarya Rai look-alike Sneha in his new release "Lucky".

And in Carrol Willard's Marigold, which Salman is currently shooting in Rajasthan, he pairs with the much talked-about Nandana Sen who's almost a newcomer.

Interestingly, top-notch leading ladies have also shown an enterprising spirit when it comes to working with virtual newcomers. Rekha didn't hesitate in being paired with Shekhar Suman in Girish Karnad's "Utsav". And Tabu's co-star in M.F. Husain's Meenaxi was a lanky unknown Kunal Kapoor.

The ever-spirited Mumtaz even paired herself with her one-time co-star Biswajeet's son Prosenjit in David Dhawan's "Aandhiyan", though thankfully as mother and son.

Now in debutant director Shripal Morakhia's psycho-thriller "Naina", due in April, Urmila Matondkar's romantic lead is the virtually unknown Anuj Sawhney.

Explains the level headed actress. "To me it's never been important who I pair with. I've done films in the past where my leading men were newcomers, like Aftab Shivdasani in 'Mast' and my co-star in my new film 'Varanasi' is Ashmit Patel. I had a great time working with all three. It's not who you are with, but what you do with him on screen that matters."