Shalom Bollywood: How Four Jewish Actresses Influenced the Indian Cinema Industry
An acclaimed 2017 documentary may be global cinema’s most enlightening exposé.
Overview
The Indian film industry was heavily influenced by the acting of four Jews.
All of them were women.
This is one of the least-known pieces of trivia in all of global cinema, and the subject of filmmaker Danny Ben-Moshe’s groundbreaking 2013 documentary, “Shalom Bollywood.”
In the earliest days of Indian cinema, men portrayed the women’s roles as it was considered “indecent” and “immoral” for Hindu and Muslim females to act in this new medium.
Enter India’s rare Jews, who had no such confines.
The Stars
India’s scant Jewish community numbered in the low-thousands during the Indian film industry’s nascent days.
The South Asian country’s four pioneering Jewish female film actors would become known by their stage names, as Sulochana, Miss Rose, Pramila, and Nadira.
Sulochana
