As Welcome To The Jungle gears up for release, one of its biggest talking points is the reunion of Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon, who share screen space for the first time in 22 years. The former co-stars, whose off-screen relationship was among Bollywood’s most discussed romances in the 1990s, have come together thanks to director Ahmed Khan.

Speaking about the casting coup, Khan told mid-day that his decades-long friendship with both actors helped make it possible. “Both Raveena and Akshay have been such good friends of mine. We have known each other for over 30 years and because we go back so long, we know what has happened in each other’s lives.”

Was it challenging to bring rumoured ex-lovers back together for a film? The filmmaker took up the task as a “fan service.” He said, “People will want to see Raveena and Akshay together, so why not do fan service?”. He added that Akshay in fact encouraged him to cast whoever suited the role best.

According to Khan, Raveena had no reservations when she learnt Akshay was already part of the project. “She said, ‘So what? We are all actors and grown up. We are all friends and we will have a blast on the sets,’” he recalled.

While Kumar and Tandon are not paired romantically in Welcome To The Jungle, they share several scenes and a song choreographed by Rahul Shetty and Prince Gupta. The reunion is particularly nostalgic given that the duo delivered some of Hindi cinema’s most enduring hits, including Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast and Tip Tip Barsa Paani from Mohra (1994).

Recalling the shoot, Khan revealed, “There is a sequence of Akshay and Raveena dancing together. The whole set clapped. Suniel Shetty, who also starred in Mohra, came in and said, ‘Arre, mere Mohra ki jodi aa gayi’.”

Ahmed Khan says, “It’s a small industry and everybody grows over their past and moves on. Off set, Raveena and Akshay were friends only — joking, having fun, and talking about their kids. We reminisced about the past and work from earlier movies”