That Aga-Regine magic

There’s something about Aga Muhlach and Regine Velasquez that makes you want to see them on screen again and again. Aga admits it could have something to do with the way they are built.

To Aga’s lean frame, there’s Regine trim, well-maintained figure. To his handsome, fair looks, there’s Regine’s creamy, flawless skin.

And, until this film, Pangako. . . Ikaw Lang, came along, there’s this unmistakable chemistry that makes you feel sparks did fly between them, as far as the movie is concerned, that is.

"I used to ignore him off-camera while we were working on Dahil May Isang Ikaw (their first film together). And I admit I was cranky that time," admits Regine.

The reason:her leading man would come late on the set.

But now that he has learned his lesson and reports to the set on time, Regine not only has started talking to Aga off-camera, they have actually become great friends.

Regine even sang during Aga’s wedding in Baguio.

Aga would tell Regine the men must be intimidated when they come face-to-face with her. Hence, the reason why she remains loveless up to now.

Regine thinks nothing about teasing Aga and announces how proud she is of him, now that he reports to the set on time.

"Now I can really say I had fun working with him. Day One of the movie and we found ourselves laughing – and laughing!" states Regine on the set of the movie – a mansion located at Multinational Village, Parañaque, scene of the wedding anniversary of Aga’s parents.

Regine plays a florist who chances upon Aga for the first time in the hospital where he was confined after he met a freak accident. As fate would have it, Regine was also there, looking after her sick father. It was a clear case of love at first sight.

The kissing scene – an hour long in a busy street at that, was unrehearsed. To do it, Regine told the hesitant Aga matter-of-factly, "I’ll kiss you first."

That way, she explains, she has more control of the situation. Regine studied kissing scenes in foreign movies and found out that Meg Ryan for instance, would kiss her leading man back in the many romantic films she has made.

Regine took her cue from there "so I won’t look stupid."

And so did she and Aga finish that kissing scene with flying colors.

If Regine can kiss with such passion on screen, don’t get fooled. She goes back to reality once the director (in this case Joyce Bernal) shouts "Cut!" "It’s my defense mechanism," she insists. If she forgets that she is an actress, Regine will end up falling in love with every leading man she kisses on screen. And getting disappointed in the process.

Viva Films, producer of Pangako. . . Ikaw Lang, is so sold out on the Aga-Regine tandem it is planning to produce a romantic movie starring both of them once a year.

Shades of the Vilma Santos-Christopher de Leon love team that has withstood the test of time, including the marriages of the two stars to different persons (Vilma to Ralph Recto; Christopher to Sandy Andolong)?

The movie press would think so; with Aga and Regine seconding the motion.

"There’s an excitement in seeing Regine in a film (her packed schedule limits her to only one a year). You know why? It’s because she shifts to another field – singing, after the movie," Aga muses.

Movie fans miss her, and seeing her on the big screen after so long becomes one big treat.

Aga hit it right on target. Absence makes the heart grow fonder as far as Regine’s movie fans are concerned. And the winner is the insightful producer who sees the writing on the wall and does something about it.