“Memories of a fragrant past seemed to flood into many minds last weekend when a Gandhi came to a Bachchan wedding after a generation,” writes Rashid Kidwai, in The Telegraph.

Over a thousand guests attended the wedding reception of actor Kunal Kapoor and Naina Bachchan in Delhi. But by far the most significant was Priyanka Gandhi.

Priyanka was the cynosure as she and Robert hugged Ajitabh and Naina. And to most old-timers, the occasion seemed redolent with the spirit of the two late matriarchs who had cemented the two families’ bond before it weakened some three decades ago.
– Rashid Kidwai, in The Telegraph

The Bachchans and the Gandhis had close ties going back decades. It all began when Sarojini Naidu introduced Harivansh Rai Bachchan and his wife Teji to Nehru and a young Indira Gandhi.

Teji Bachchan was especially close to the Gandhis.

After Indira’s assassination on October 31, 1984, Teji had shown the presence of mind to pick Rahul and Priyanka up from St Columba’s and the Convent of Jesus & Mary School. Rajiv Gandhi had been away in Bengal and Sonia had taken Indira to hospital.
The Bachchan-Gandhi friendship stretched seven decades and three generations since the day Sarojini Naidu introduced poet Harivanshrai and Teji to Nehru and Indira. The strains appeared only after Amitabh abruptly left politics in 1987 amid the Bofors scandal.
– Rashid Kidwai, in The Telegraph

Amitabh’s and Jaya Bachchan’s relationship with the Gandhis may have cooled over time, but Ajitabh Bachchan has maintained close ties with 10 Janpath.

This perhaps explains why a Gandhi finally came to a Bachchan function. No one from the family attended Abhishek’s or Shweta’s wedding.

Just a few hours later, Big B got nostalgic on his blog, without naming names.

Nothing moves the mind greater than the memories of those that were a part of your life in constancy some ‘millions of years ago’... tonight as I met with them, it was a time capsule that had suddenly exploded before your eyes... each and every little detail of those days and years and situations and banter and fun... all came back like it had never gone away at all...
– Amitabh Bachchan