Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema

This screening is part of the 2019 Jewish Film Festival

NR, 76 minutes

A post-show discussion will be led by Rini Bhattacharya Mehta, Assistant Professor of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

SHALOM BOLLYWOOD: THE UNTOLD STORY OF INDIAN CINEMA is a documentary celebrating the all singing, all dancing history of the world’s largest film industry. It reveals the unlikely story of the 2000 year old Indian Jewish community and its formative place in shaping the world’s largest film industry.

When Indian cinema began 100 years ago it was taboo for Hindu and Islamic women to perform on screen, so Indian Jewish women, who were more liberal and progressive, took on female lead roles, which they then dominated for decades. However, because of their stage names people thought they were Muslims or Christians. Until now… (2017, Danny Ben-Moshe, Australia, English, 76 min, NR)