A Twitter thread by user SamSays on February 25 got everyone nostalgic about older days of Bollywood.

The precious thread gave a glimpse of how Sam’s aunt, an avid film buff — Mehrunnisa Najma, who passed away in 2006, received responses to her letters from some of the popular Bollywood stars including Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt, Saira Banu, Tabassum and many more.

These letters that were locked in the basement for more than 15 years, wearing dust, will now breathe a new lease of life as the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) will acquire and preserve this collection for Bollywood buffs.

Soon after the tweets went viral, NFAI reached out to Sam seeking approval to acquire and preserve this unique collection.

Prakash Magdum, director, National Film Archive of India, told us, “We are always looking for filmy materials that are of archival value. What we saw on Twitter is a fantastic collection because this also constitutes part of cinema history. It is so interesting that a lady was writing to these stars and they were replying to her. It that the stars in those years, had a personal connect with their fans. And these were times when there was no social media. Our aim is to acquire rights, preserving them and making them accessible to cinema lovers and history buffs.”

Speaking with us, Sam Javed, who shared her aunt’s tweets says, “Everyone knew of my aunt’s collection, but somehow no one ever gave it much attention or importance. She used to show it to us when we were kids, and over the years, it was forgotten. It was rediscovered recently during a clean-up and I decided to share it on Twitter. I had absolutely no idea that it will get such an overwhelming response. I think we need to pay more attention to memorabilia left behind to us and do our best to treasure it in the same way, that the person who left it behind did in his/her lifetime.”

Happy to have received such an overwhelming response to the tweets, Sam is now looking forward to have these letters restored and preserved by NFAI.

“NFAI was one of the first to do so, and it gives me immense happiness to see the collection get such recognition. My priority is to restore and preserve the images so that they can be enjoyed by generations to come. My Twitter thread has got me responses from cinema lovers around the world. I feel blessed that I’m able to share my aunt’s legacy with the world. These pictures and letters take us back to a completely different era. They give us a glimpse of a gentler world. The kindness of superstars for sparing the time to write a handwritten note to a young woman is something very hard to imagine today. The message to today’s generation is to slow down, value the simple pleasures in life and spread love and happiness.”

Najma was born in the 1930s. Her father was from Punjab and her mother was from Burma (Myanmar). She had two sisters and a brother. The father died in infancy. She and her entire family lived with their uncle. Her aunt was the wife of the then Nawab of Tonk Saadat Ali Khan. Najma was brought up by her Burmese mother in the palace of the Nawab of Tonk.