ACTRESSES & ACTORS
A JOURNEY
Many
actors of Indian Jewish roots assimilated into the more prevalent Muslim
and Hindu faiths of Pramila was elected as Miss
The saga of independent A born rebel, she walked out of her conservative Baghdadi Jewish home
in Kolkata at 17 to join a theatre company.
She went on to realise her real dream and
blazed across the Indian screen as a vamp and a fearless stunt star in
30 films, including UltiGanga, Bijli, Basant
and Jungle King. She became the first major woman film
producer, with 16 films under her Silver Productions banner.
D M Madhok wrote CholiKeAndar
lyrics for her years before MadhuriDixit
was born and then In a big bad man's world, she wore the pants and led an interesting
personal life. As a teenager, she eloped with Marwari
theatre director ManicklalDangi.
She later married actor Kumar (who appeared in Mughal-e-Azam
and Shri 420) before settling down to live
with Parsi filmmaker NariGadhali
for four decades after Kumar migrated to
In those four decades,
she shunned the limelight, brought up her four sons and a daughter and
waged a colossal battle to get back her property in Mumbai's With a whirlwind life like that, even the most stout-hearted scriptwriter
would hesitate to pen her biopic. Her youngest son actor Hyder
Ali of television series Nukkad-fame pays
a very personal tribute here:
My ma may be known for dash and feisty spirit but it did not come up
only when she was cornered. It was her trait. It appeared in everything
she did.
I asked her what it was about her that AmolPalekar
wanted her to act in his Marathi film, Thang,
at 90. How do you manage to be the centre of attraction even now, I asked
her.
She said, 'Haidoo,
you have to command what you want. If you do not get it, demand it. If
you still don't get it, grab it. If you still do not get it you to kill
to get it. If you worry about what the world thinks, you will waver from
your goal.'
She was like that. She never cared too hoots if the world was shocked,
embarrassed... right from the day she walked out of her house.
She hurt people in the process but she was able to compensate because
she succeeded financially. She never took from people, she only gave. Throughout,
she remained economically independent and died as a landlady.
Charting your own independent path was easier said than done. When she
wanted to emulate the success of her cousin in Bollywood as a Kolkata
teenager, she joined a Parsitravelling
theatre company.
Her job was to keep
the audiences quiet with her charms during the 15 minutes it took to change
reels in the single-projector silent film. You can imagine the courage
and conviction it took for someone, who had been a kindergarden
headmistress and had pre-university art
certificates from Her orthodox father clobbered her for that but she did not care.
Her spirit showed again when our father left for She wanted all of us to join cinema. Only I stand devoted to it. My
siblings said it is too irregular a profession. My
mom said, all life is irregular. That was her message to us. Never
give up. You have keep trying and trying all the time till your last breath
and the opportunity
will create itself.
For it was a handful of Jews who helped
pioneer the fledgling Indian film industry, from the silent era into sound.
Not surprisingly, some of Bollywood's first
and greatest stars were Jews.
Yes, it's about time you
also heard about:
Sulochana,
born: Ruby Meyers
(Not
to be confused with actresses SulochanaDevi
and SulochanaLatkar)
Sulochana
(1907 - 1983), real name Ruby Myers) was an Indian silent film star
of Jewish ancestry, although it is unclear whether she descended from an
Ashkenazi family, Bene Israeli family, or
both.
In her heyday she was the highest paid actresses of her times, when she was pairing with, 'DinshawBillimoria' in 'Imperial Studios' films. In mid 1930 she opened 'RubiPics', a film production House [3].
She was awarded the 1973 Dada SahebPhalke
Award,
Among her popular films were Typist Girl (1926), Balidaan
(1927) and Wildcat of Bombay (1927) where she essayed eight roles including
a gardener, a policeman, a Hyderabadi gentleman,
a street urchin, a banana seller and a European blonde!
Further talkie versions of her silent hits followed and with Indira
(now an) M.A.(1934), Anarkali
(1935) and
In 1953, she acted in her third Anarkali,
but this time in a supporting role as Salim's
mother.
She finally died lonely and forgotten in 1983 in her flat in Mumbai.
A sad end for the woman who once became famous for drawing a larger salary
than the Governor of Bombay and who even acted in a film named after her
- Sulochana (1933)!
Sulochana established her own film studio, RubiPics,
in the mid-1930s. She received the Dada SahebPhalke
Award in 1973 for her lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firoza
Begum, alias: Susan Solomon,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RamalaDevi,
born: Rachel Cohen,
*** NO PHOTOS FOUND ***
Cast:Dev Anand, RamalaDevi,AmirBanu, Niharika, German, G. Das, Pal
From YouTube:
Very old movie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pramila,
born: Esther Abraham,
Featured in this article
*** NO VIDEOS FOUND ***
HER LAST MOVIE
AMOL PALEKAR’s
: “THAANG”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
David born as David
Abraham Cheulkar,
David Abraham Cheulkar
(1908 - 1981), popularly known as David was a Jewish-Indian Hindi-language
film actor, who started his film career with 1941 film NayaSansar
and went on to act in over 110 films. He was a member of Mumbai's Bene
Strongly associated with friendly uncle
roles, David is best known for his portrayal of John Chacha
in the 1954 hit Boot Polish, directed by PrakashArora
for which he won the 1955 Filmfare Best
Supporting Actor Award. The song "NanheMunneBachche"
from the film, picturized with him became
a memorable song of that era. He never married and died on 28 December
1981 in
Videos:
WATCH MOVIE: BOOT POLISH
Play
All VideosVideos:
14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
and
Nadira,
born Florence Ezekiel.
Indian
actress Nadira, born: Florence Ezekiel. Nadira
was born to a Baghdadi Jewish family. She is survived by two brothers,
one of whom lives in the
Nadira
won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting
Actress, her role as Julie's mother Margaret, 'Maggie', in the 1975 film
Julie.
During the 1980s and 1990s, she entered a new phase of her career, playing
elderly women as a supporting actress. Her last role was in the film Josh
(2000).
She was well paid for her efforts, and
was one of the first Indian actors to own a Rolls-Royce.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
DANCE DIRECTOR HERMAN
Videos:
(Used in movie GHOST WORLD TITLE
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUvqE-4LhSU)
IMPORTANT: (more information needed on this
person before it gets all lost in time)
(His gravestone is in mumbaiworlijewish
cemetery)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
VijuPenkar
VijuPenkar, President, Maharashtra
State Body-Building Association, tried a one time stint to get into show
business..
(The Bollywood Tarzan)
TARZAN AND COBRA (1988)
VIJU PENKAR, SHOBHNI SINGH, MOHAN SHERRY, JAYSHREET, LEENA DAS,
BHAGWAN, TUNTUN
Produced By: R. B. HEBBALI, Directed
By: BHAGWANT CHOUDHARY
Music By: SONIKOMI.Genre: ACTION - RATING
: **
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The son of a Russian Jewish
mother and Indian father,
Ben Kingsley is one of the
most honored actors in
Ben Kingsley's paternal family was from the Indian state of
Who alos
played Itzhak Stern in Schindler’s
List
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za3ezKDyats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvlrOIizgt0
The
person who does not shed a tear in this movie (Schindler’s List),
please get checked by your cardiologist, in case your heart may not functioning
correctly.
For
his compassion, the Jews never forgot Oscar’s deeds to protect them, and
Oscar Schindler was allowed to live in Israel for the rest of his life
and he is buried in Israel in Mt. Zion and a tree was planted in the garden
of the virtuous to be remembered by all the holocaust survivors and their
descendents as a witness to their presence in this world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bRNEZVNVSs&feature=related
Grave of Oscar Schindler in
.
.
.
.
.
.
A PAUSE IN MEMORY OF THE
MORE THAN
SIX MILLION INNOCNET JEWS
MURDERED
BY GERMANS IN
UNDER
THE LEADERSHIP OF THE NAZIS.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
BACK TO ORIGINAL FEATURE
&
TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AND THEN WE HAVE THE INFAMOUS HOT ONE :
UNCONFIRMED
The Anglo-Indian-Burmese Helen Jairag
Richardson, who from the 1950s to the 1970s was Bollywood’s
most famous dancer.
Videos: MUST
WATCH
(Above 18 only – Guaranteed
to get you interested in belly dancing )
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPrFawBa2OM
Even the Spanish love her :
THREE DECADES - A TRIBUTE
:
OTHER GREATEST HITS
:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXEPZPUsehg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzBjj5QRCI4
http://www.bollywoodsargam.com/video_todayfeaturedvideo.php?blockbustermovieclip=1VE8kJlii34---latest-helen_queen_of_the_nautch_girls_featured_hollywood_blockbuster_video.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-Richardson/111650062187401
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Padamsee
was of Indian Jewish and Punjabi heritage, but is believed to have become
Christian. She was at one time married to AlyquePadamsee
and had a daughter RaellPadamsee
by him. She also had two children from an earlier marriage. One of them, RanjitChowdhry,
is an actor.
Video:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All were great stars in early and modern
Indian movies, now sadly forgotten.
Miss
1947 Pramilla - Esther Victoria Abraham
1953 Peace
1952 Indrani Rehman
???? Leela Naidu
1964 Meher Mistri
1965 Persis Khambatta
1966 Rita Fierra
1967 Naqi Jahan – daughter of Esther Victoria Abraham
1969 Kavita Bhambani / Nighat Mohammed
1971 Zeenat Aman
1972 Roopa Satyan / Pheroja Cooper (runner up)
1973 Farjana Habib
1974 Marylin Pereira (runner up)
1975 Anjana Sood
???? Prema Narayan
1975 Meenakshi Sheshadri
1976 Naina Bhalsaver
1977 Nalini Vishwanathan
1978 Kalpana Iyer
1979 Swaroop Sampat
1980 Ulrike Bredmayer / Ayesha Dutt
1982 Pamela Bordes / Aparna Sharma
1984 Juhi Chawla
1985 Sonu Walia
1986 Meher Jesia
1988 Shikha Swaroop / Dolly Minhas
1989 Suzanne Sablok / Navida Mehendi (2nd runner up)
1990 Sangeeta Bijlani (?)
1992 Madhu Sapre
1993 Namrata Shirodkar
1994 Pooja Batra
1995 Manpreet Brar
1996 Sandhy Chib / Rani Jairaj (1st runner up)
1997 Nafisa Joseph / Diana Hayden / Diana Chauhan
1999 Gul Panag / Yukta Mookhey (1st runner up) / Shivangi Parikh (2nd)
2000 Lara Dutta / Gayatri Jayaraman (4th place)
If you lasted this long, you are really interested and deserve a bonus : BONUS 1 :
----------------------------------------------------
BONUS 2:
http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/7960/the-queens-of-bollywood/
Nissim Moses provided this table :
INFORMATION RESEARCH & ACCURACY VIA Google and YouTube by Sammy Benjamin..
THIS PRESENTATION HOSTED ON MY DOMAIN
@ 1and1.COM
GET YOUR OWN INTERNET DOMAIN, START YOU BUSINESS,
MAKE YOUR WEB SITE OR BACKUP YOUR FILES
Sources:
http://www.desihotmasala.com/2008/12/pramila-esther-victoria-abraham-pramila.html
http://www.docbollywood.com/2006/10/farewell-to-pramila-indias-1st-miss.html
http://indianfilmiactresses.blogspot.com/2010/05/miss-pramila-born-esther-victoria.html
http://www.search.com/reference/List_of_Asian_Jews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3851550,00.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Jewish-Actors-of-Bollywood
http://identity-films.com/films_shalom_synopsis.html
http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=442
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001426/bio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0oAfsLLVcg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ezmfGTbxoQ&NR=1
http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/7960/the-queens-of-bollywood/