Coolidge Corner Theatre: “Silsila”

Silsila, a landmark of Bollywood cinema, was monumental in its day for its portrayal of transgressive love.

Centered on a poet torn between a socially sanctioned marriage and a former love, the film approaches the subject of an affair with unusual candor. Even decades later, the performances retain an intense emotional realism, charged by the widely held belief that the onscreen love triangle mirrored what the actors themselves were living through.

Amitabh Bachchan—one of the great actors of world cinema—delivers one of his finest performances, while Rekha’s ethereal presence cuts straight to the heart. The soundtrack, featuring playback singing by India’s “nightingale” Lata Mangeshkar and anchored by “Rang Barse”—now inseparable from the soundscape of Holi—completes a singular, immersive classic.