Which hero-heroine combination among the following can be termed as 'Jodi No. 1'?

a) Chiranjeevi - Radha
b) Balakrishna - Vijaya Santhi
c) Venkatesh - Soundarya
d) Nagarjuna - Amala

Whatever 'lifelines' you intend to use, it's difficult to 'lock' into one choice, as they are all undeniably some of the best hero-heroine combinations seen in Telugu Cinema. Their pairing was ascertainably one of the main crowd pulling factors for their movies. Whenever they came together on screen, they defied all the equations, kicking off chain reactions in our hearts and educating us with an all-new science called 'Onscreen Chemistry'.

The magic of Chiranjeevi - Radha, which started with Goonda, spelled its charm in about 15 movies. Notable among them are - Naagu, Donga, Puli, Adavi Donga, Kondaveeti Raja, Rakshasudu, Yamudiki Mogudu, State Rowdy, Kondaveeti Donga and Kodama Simham. Though Chiranjeevi acted in more number of movies with Vijaya Santhi and Radhika, the first and foremost heroine who comes to our mind if asked who formed the best pair with Chiranjeevi, is Radha. Whether it was break dance or folk dance, Radha was the only heroine who could match up with Megastar's unparalleled elegance and panache at dancing which puts fluidity to shame.

Balakrishna and Vijaya Santhi set box office on fire with their luminous chemistry in films like Pattabhishekam, Muddula Mavayya, Muddula Krishnayyah, Apoorva Sahodarulu, Muddula Menalludu, Rowdy Inspector and Lorry Driver. Whenever they were paired together for a movie, they brought in an unforeseen craze for that movie. Once Vijaya Santhi decided not to yell out for help from any hero and instead kick some butt herself, box-office bonanza Balayya (as he is fondly called by his fans) started romancing sizzling Simran and looming large as a 'lion' giving fury-filled lessons to the factionists of Rayalaseema.

Venkatesh who usually opts for new heroines to give a fresh look and feel to his movies, did share a dazzling on-screen chemistry with Soundarya. Though Soundarya first acted with Venktesh in a cameo for a dud called Super Police, their following movies turned out to be eminently successful hits in the form of Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu, Pavithra Bhandam, Pelli Chesukundam, Raja and Jayam Manaderaa. Soundarya was the only heroine with whom Venky acted in a maximum number of movies and delivered maximum hits, next being Meena.

Nagarjuna and Amala sparkled and glittered together on screen in movies like Kirayi Dada, Chinababu, Shiva and others. Their reel-life romance, executed to precision in all the movies they acted together, gradually transformed into real-life love. After battling a Prema Yuddham, they took a Nirnayam to culminate their love in a blissful marriage. The only other heroine, who shined as brightly as Amala did with Nagarjuna, was Ramya Krishna.

One of the key factors, for a hero-heroine combination to become much sought after, apart from a magnetic appeal, is to deliver consistent, if not continuous, hits. All the crazy combinations talked about here, had a gargantuan share of super hits. At the same time, they also had to taste dismal failures. The audience awed enough by the electrifying chemistry of these mega combinations never hesitated to outrightly reject movies that were made with a false faith that a successful hero-heroine combination could salvage a movie with poor script.

Chiranjeevi - Radha starrer Lankeshwarudu, Balakrishna - Vijaya Santhi starrer Nippu Ravva, Venkatesh - Soundarya's Devi Putrudu and Nagarjuna - Amala's Prema Yuddham are classic examples, where the hero-heroine magic could not alleviate the suffering of the audience who were already on the run for Aleve. Probably for this reason, youth heroes like Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu and Jr. NTR are not too keen to repeat heroines in their films. May be they are more interested in economics than chemistry. That is, economics of the movie than the chemistry they share with their heroines.

But is this calling for an end of the magical era of hero-heroine combinations? Will we, henceforth, not get an added bonus of not only watching a good movie but also enjoy a chirpy combination set the screen ablaze with their mysterious alchemy? Lets wait for the sands of time to storm us with answers. Till then let's retrospect and relive the magic of these joraina jodilu ever witnessed in the annals of Telugu Cinema.

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