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Bollywood's love affair with LETTERS!

Need to get in touch urgently, missing someone or sharing your well-being to the ones you love, letter writing is one of the oldest means of communication.

Blackmail

Dharmendra writes and Raakhee reads -- an entire stash of mush-filled heartfelt letters in Kishore Kumar's beautiful rendition of Pal pal dil ke paas in the 1973 Vijay Anand drama.

Dushman

Ashutosh Rana plays a sadistic postman who uses his profession as a means to molest/assault unsuspecting victims; one of them is Kajol, who plays a double role in Tanuja Chandra's loosely-inspired version of Eye For An Eye.

Parichay

It all begins after an unemployed Jeetendra receives a postcard from his uncle regarding a prospective job -- of home schooling a bunch of rich, unruly kids in Pran's palatial home -- in Gulzar's feel-good Parichay.

Sirf Tum

In this desi You've Got Mail, also a remake of Tamil hit Kadhal Kottai, Sanjay Kapoor and Priya Gill correspond over hand-written love letters without meeting each other till the end.

Sirf Tum, produced by big brother Boney Kapoor, boasted of some catchy Nadeem-Shravan melodies and fared decently at the box office.

Rajnigandha

Sometime in 1974, when not everybody had a landline installed in their apartments, people wrote letters.

And one of the most significant scenes of Basu Chatterjee's Rajnigandha involves Vidya Sinha receiving mail from Dinesh Thakur, who signs off the letter with a distant 'Shesh phir' leaving our briefly infatuated heroine feeling all high and dry.

Devdas

And it is through an upsetting letter Paro (Suchitra Sen) learns of Devdas' deteriorating state, the latter (played by Dilip Kumar) unable to come to terms with his life after losing his soul mate over foolish ego and a bout of cowardice.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Little does Kajol realise the 'chitthi' she's so obediently reading out to her folks seals her fate with an 'undekha, anjaana chehra' in a way she hadn't imagined.

It's from a family friend (Satish Shah) suggesting a match between his son (Parmeet Sethi) and her.

Parakh

Bimal Roy's clever fable starring Motilal Sadhana is set around a postmaster who mysteriously received a big sum of money and the events it leads to.

Parakh won the filmmaker a Best Director Filmfare trophy.

Ram Teri Ganga Maili

Several complications arise in Raj Kapoor's saga between a mountain girl (Mandakini) and her city-dwelling love interest (Rajeev Kapoor) and letters play their part in fueling misunderstandings in the melodrama best remembered for transparent saris and waterfalls.

Border

In Javed Akhtar's apt description of army men feeling homesick, Sandese aate hain, Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna and Suniel Shetty get emotional about their wives and families when a bag of mail arrives asking them the all-important question, 'Ghar kab aaoge?'

Masoom

What happens when a letter meant for somebody falls in wrong hands? In Masoom, Jugal Hansraj learns the painful truth about his father's identity when he reads a confidential letter meant for his uncle, in truth his dad, Naseeruddin Shah.

One of big screen's most heartbreaking moments, this.

Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein

Quite easily the most definitive song to celebrate the hardworking folk of Indian postal system is Rajesh Khanna's charismatic postman singing Dakiya daak laye in Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein co-starring Hema Malini.

Welcome to Sajjanpur

In Shyam Benegal's satrical Welcome to Sajjanpur, Shreyas Talpade plays an aspiring novelist writing letters for the illiterate villagers to make a living. While nowhere in the same league as Benegal's past works, Sajjanpur drew favourable reviews for its whimsical texture.

Abhimaan

Some letters pack in a word of recommendation. And that's precisely what Amitabh Bachchan is excitedly reading out after he receives correspondence from his munh-boli aunt to perform (since he's a famous singer) in his native place in this scene from Abhimaan.

Swades

After Shah Rukh Khan arrives in Charanpur village, he's helped out by Rajesh Vivek, the local postmaster cum wrestler, who is dazzled by the advancement in technology and aims to transform his humble post-office into an internet-friendly space.

Mausam

One of the greatest criticisms Mausam received is how farfetched and forced the miscommunication between Shahid and Sonam Kapoor appears to be.

Here, Sonam pens a note about her whereabouts to her far-away beau in the hope he'll find her and live happily ever after. Only jealous delivery girl never does the needful delaying their union by another 40 minutes.