 "Twitter wakes up to a treasure trove of vintage Bollywood photos, featuring Shammi Kapoor, Saira Banu, Dharmendra")
While many of us are busy scrolling through the phone gallery, searching for a flawless throwback Thursday picture, Twitter folks woke up to a minefield of old Bollywood leading to a spellbinding nostalgic tour. Writer Sam Jawed, late Wednesday, shared a Twitter thread after she stumbled on a collection of 1960s Bollywood star photos in an old album while cleaning up her aunt’s belongings. Jawed confesses that her aunt grew up in a small town in the 1950s, and as a young girl was completely enamoured by movies. Hence, she would spend her free time writing fan mail to movie stars and over time, built up quite a collection of autographed pictures and letters. (Fangirling goals!) Her boastful collection includes autographs (remember an era before selfies) from Dharmendra, Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Saira Banu, Sadhana, Asha Parekh among others. While a few pictures are in bad shape with tattered edges, one cannot overlook the little cultural mementoes such as the famous Sadhana cut, winged eyeliner make-up and bouffant hairpieces. Hence, let’s deep dive into this treasure trove. Read her thread here
My aunt passed away many years ago. Among her belongings was an old album that she was very fond of. The album remained lost for many years, buried somewhere in a storeroom in the basement. It was found again recently during a clean-up. 1/n
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
As a young girl growing up in a small town in 1950s and 60s, she was completely enamored by movies. Much to the disapproval of her mother, she spent her free time writing fan mail to movie stars and over a time, built up quite a collection of autographed pictures and letters. 2/n
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
Sadly, most of it is now in a bad shape but I managed to salvage a few that I am posting in this thread. I’m sure she would have loved to show off her collection. So, here it is... 3/n
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
Shammi Kapoor 1962
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
4/n pic.twitter.com/PAXEMyMvfN
Dharmendra -1962
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
The pic is damaged but the good looks are intact!
5/n pic.twitter.com/thUcMWmpOS
Kamini Kaushal - 1953
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
This is one of the oldest pic of the lot and sadly damaged quite a bit. 6/n pic.twitter.com/nBpFssVMNW
Biswajit
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
7/n pic.twitter.com/oHRjBQm3JE
Sadhana - 1964
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
From a time she was really popular as seen from the list of films
8/n pic.twitter.com/QJBtT1xzk8
Asha Parekh - 1963
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
9/n pic.twitter.com/UmnXCt8EiY
Sunil Dutt - 1962
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
He wrote her a long letter in Urdu which I can’t read!
10/n pic.twitter.com/JZTKduS5Xv
Saira Banu
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
The letter doesn’t have a date but it is from the same time which means she must be around 18 yo in the pic
11/n pic.twitter.com/vGr7cDrN6L
The Irani sisters - Honey and Daisy
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
12/n pic.twitter.com/KVN1CaT9Tn
Rajashree and Naaz
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
I don’t recognize these names but that’s what’s written on the pics.
13/n pic.twitter.com/uJxG63ZLyy
Tabassum - 1962
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
She must have been really young at the time. There is a personal hand-written letter from her as well which I’m not sharing here but will be happy to share with @tabassumgovil if she wants.
14/n pic.twitter.com/6TJtOy5cp2
The first one is Suraiya, I think. The second one I don’t recognize. The text in both is not legible.
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
15/n pic.twitter.com/vw2xE89qMW
Rajendra Kumar - 1961
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
16/n pic.twitter.com/xisVt1t1NM
Raaj Kumar - 1961
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
17/n pic.twitter.com/l17hZFTlbr
That’s all I could salvage. I found it to be a fascinating glimpse of the film industry as it was 60 years ago, in an era much before emails, social media and selfies. Hope you enjoy the thread as much as I did putting it together.
— SamSays (@samjawed65) February 24, 2021
18/18
 "Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment")
 "From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal")
 "Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?")
 "Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike")
 "Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment")
 "From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal")
 "Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?")
 "Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike")
