On the top of the list, about which everyone has heard of, is the Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha pairing. Love, the most allusive of emotions is also the strongest one and it has a long standing war with reason. Amitabh Bachchan, a family man, apparently lost this war for a brief number of days and the pair appeared in all the Indian newspapers. Wife Jaya Bachchan looked the other way and asked husband to mend his ways, which he did in time. Although no one can confirm that Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan were actually together, yet even today people whisper why the diva did not remarry and even Simi Garewal could not get a straight answer from her in her programme Rendezvous.
 
The second and the most referred to affair is also the most poignant of the three stories and is not less than a Hindi film. Geeta Dutt, Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman were three points of a triangle which were to never meet, yet they were bound by the same emotion; love. Very contrasting from the Bachchans, the family of Dutt could not stand the test of time. While Guru Dutt committed suicide, Geeta Dutt withered away with her bottle of alcohol and Waheeda Rehman was left with memories. The song ‘waqt ne kiya haseen sitam’ actually talks much more than the characters of the film and Geeta Dutt’s pain in the song talks of her own turmoil.

The last and the third affair was well known and not alleged but it remained unrequited till the end. Mahesh Bhatt famously said goodbye to Parveen Babi with his movie 'Woh Lamhe.' After his marriage unravelled due to their affair, Mahesh Bhatt failed to have an happily ever after with Parveen Babi as she was chased by her own demons.   

Although these are not the only stories of unrequitted love in Bollywood but these are definitely the most talked of in film circles. The truth of the matter is it is hard to know about the romantic version of each alleged affair in definite terms, and they pass into history as famous affairs to remember.