The falling out between India's first family of politics and the nation's first family of entertainment has been grist for the rumour mills for years. But now the rancour between the Nehru-Gandhi clan, which gave India three Congress Party prime ministers, and movie megastar Amitabh Bachchan has burst into the open, and threatens to turn into a long-running blockbuster.
Both sides have kept mum for years about the rift but the silence was broken by Bachchan's wife Jaya who declared, while campaigning for the regional Samajwadi Party which represents the lower castes and is a bitter Congress rival, that the Gandhis had "betrayed" her husband.
"Those who introduced Amitabh to politics (as a Congress MP)... simply deserted and betrayed us when we were in trouble," she said in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state and the gateway to national power.
The counter-blast came quickly: "The Bachchans are lying", said Rahul Gandhi, the 33-year-old son of slain Congress premier Rajiv Gandhi, accusing the actor's family of switching sides.
"The people know who deceived whom," said Rahul who became an MP for the first time in elections in May that brought Congress back to power. Rahul, whose constituency is in Uttar Pradesh, has faced constant battles with the Samajwadi Party.
As the war of words heated up, 63-year-old Bachchan, who has dominated the Indian film industry for over a quarter century, stepped into the frame.
His pronouncement revealed the deep split between the two families who had once been intimate friends.
"The Gandhis are the Rajas and we are the Ranks (subjects). Any continuation of the relationship depends on the mood of the rulers," he said. At the same time, he said, the two families continued to respect each other.
The news magazine Outlook, splashing the row on its front cover this week, said both Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Sonia, who is Congress president, and Amitabh are "keen to keep a semblance of amity."
Several generations of the Gandhis and Bachchan families have been warm friends. In 1968, when Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv's Italian wife, came to India to get married she stayed with the Bachchans for seven weeks before the wedding.
The level of closeness was publicly acknowledged years later when former prime minister Indira Gandhi visited Bachchan's hospital bedside in 1982 as he lay in a coma after nearly dying during a movie fight scene that went wrong.
Indira Gandhi was Rajiv's mother and she was herself the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.
"They were like family to each other," said Satish Jacob, political commentator and veteran former BBC correspondent.
But Bachchan was closest to Rajiv with whom he had hung out as a youngster and who brought him into politics, helping him become a member of parliament in 1984.
P. C. Alexander, top aide to Indira Gandhi, who was slain by her bodyguards in 1984, resulting in Rajiv becoming premier, recalled: "It was Amitabh who helped Rajiv draft his first broadcast to the nation as prime minister."
But relations slowly soured after the multi-million-dollar Bofors arms kickback scandal enmeshed Rajiv's government in corruption allegations in 1987. Uncomfortable in the political heat, Bachchan turned his back on politics.
After Rajiv's assassination, the estrangement became complete.
What was at the root of the rift remains one of India's best-kept secrets. The question of who betrayed whom is shrouded in mystery.
Some say the Bachchans felt abandoned by the Gandhis during the Bofors scandal. Others say it was the Gandhis who felt abandoned when Bachchan quit politics without serving his full term.
Still others say it was because the Gandhis did not come to the aid of the Bachchans when the star's entertainment venture, Amitabh Bachchan Corp, hit the financial rocks in the 1990s. His financial fortunes have since bounced back.
Observers say they have no doubt what was behind Jaya Bachchan's outburst - politics.
In the aftermath of the split, the Bachchans became chummy with Amar Singh, a top leader of the Samajwadi Party, which is gunning for the fall of the Congress-led government after being shut out of power in the general elections.
"The party has become very bitter and would like to bring down the government," said Jacob.
Right now, though, Bachchan is seeking to douse the controversy, telling reporters that at his age, "peace of mind is far too important for me."
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