The Indian Jewish Association hosted a film screening on Thursday night that evoked some fond memories among Britain Baghdadi Jewish community of a community in its twilight.
Giggles filled the room as an audience that included many Indian-born Jews watched ‘Shalom Bombay’, in which the remaining members of Mumbai’s Jewish communities tell the city as it was in its heyday – and worry about how its Jewish life would change.
“I wanted to do it before it was too late,” said Alex Hayim, who directed the film aged 23 in 1997. “I wanted to document the history of this rich and vibrant community that my family had bene part of.”
Alex had been introduced to India in the 1980s by his father, himself a Bombay-born Baghdadi Jew, and was moved “to capture memories on film through the eyes of those that had experienced the past” as he saw that the community in which his father had grown-up in was slowly vanishing.
“Ultimately, it is also a story about those who were still living in Bombay in 1997.”
The screening, which around 100 people attended, was hosted in Leicester Square and was attended by many Jews who were India-born and had connections with the community. Representatives from the Israeli and Indian embassies, Lord James Sassoon, and Atul Kochhar, the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star also attended.
‘Shalom Bombay’ tells the story of Mumbai’s two Jewish communities: the Bene Israel and the Baghdadis. The film, which has a charming nostalgic appeal to it, sees Alex interview the eclectic group of remaining Jewish families in the city.
The voices of a Jewish community with its golden age firmly behind it filled the room, and grainy footage captured synagogues, homes and faces of a tired Jewish Bombay.
Frail Nissim Ezekiel, one of India’s most famous English-language poets, recited poetry in a paint-peeling building that seemed to mirror the then state of the community.
Esther Abraham, who is better known by her stage name ‘Pramila’, described the heady early-days of the Indian film industry. Ms Abraham, who became Hindi cinema’s first female director, described with a twang of sadness how she conquered 1940s Bollywood and became the inaugural ‘Miss India’ in 1947.
The Bombay businessman and racehorse owner Simon Sopher, much to the delight of an audience who were familiar with him – “Doesn’t he hate you?” – narrated the history of the Baghdadi Jews’ arrival in Bombay and the history of animosity between the Bene Israel and the Baghdadis.
“What I always love is hearing comments from people in the audience. Everyone has a connection. It brings out so many memories. That’s what it is all about: putting something on film and capturing it, especially now that the community is pretty much dead,” Alex explains.
“It was emotional,” says Alex Hayim the film’s director. “When you look back and you see so many of them passing away, to be able to capture their stories and have the memory of them on film is so wonderful.”
Minister Manmeet Singh Narang of the Indian High Commission, addressed the room and later spoke with the JC, said that he had remembered being “astonished” as a young man to discover India’s Jewish communities, and cultural and educational projects “need to be done much more”.
“Not many people are aware here, and not many people in India know that we had a lot of Jews,” he lamented, but said that “we would like to preserve the old buildings of the community and make sure that more Indians know about this part of our history.”
The Indian Jewish Association was founded in 1996, and has been re-energised under the leadership of co-chairs Zaki Cooper and Dr Peter Chadha.
“We’ve got a lot to celebrate,” said Dr Chadha, “not only have Jews been living in India peacefully for a long-time, but the values of the two communities are exactly the same.”
“Building ties between our communities – and love between our communities,” Chadha described his mission as co-Chair of the IJA.
The Indian Jewish Association is a voluntary organisation that seeks to build and promote ties between Britain’s Jewish and Indian communities.
“We are hoping to put on probably four events this year,” says Dr Chadha, “we are also hoping to get some funding to give us a more permanent office.”
The IJA has campaigned in support of the construction of a Holocaust memorial in Westminster, and encouraged British Indians to vote against the Labour Party in the 2019 Election as a show of solidarity with British Jews.
