Social media has brought a certain bipolarity in the relationship between Bollywood stars and their fans. On the one hand, a star is only a tweet or a post away, but on the other hand, there is just no intimacy in the fan-star relationship anymore. There was once a time when fans would meticulously write letters to the actors in the hope that they would get a response from them. These letters were their only window to actually be “in touch” with the stars, and it does carry with it a kind of charm and personal touch that is rare to find these days.
Sam Jawed, through her recent Twitter thread in which she has posted the fan letters and replies that her late aunt Mehrunissa Najma had so meticulously collected, has given us a glimpse into the charming fandom that existed in Bollywood in the mid-20th century.
In a conversation with The Better India, Sam says, “I had heard about the letters from my aunt during my younger days and had also seen it once or twice. After my aunt’s…