Bollywood Jews

As kids we used to watch older Hindi movies from a pre-Bollywood era on television and have a blast, every time the Gargantuan body of comedienne Tun Tun floated onto the screen, to regale audiences with her brand of corny, physical humor.

Tun Tun's jokes fell flat on our ears, but it was her presence we guffawed at, we had a suspicion that she wasn't a "She," but a "He" dressed up as a she. In fact we were convinced that "Tun Tun" was none other than "Mahmood," the fat Charlie Chaplinesque jokester who was a comic staple in Hindi films.

It was quite common for men to do female roles in older Hindi movies, especially from the black and white times, because film acting was looked down upon as a thing that women of "ill-repute" did.

Shalom Bollywood, a new, eye-opening documentary on early Hindi cinema and the role of women therein, tells a riveting story of how it wasn't just men, but young Jewish Indian female dancers, women hailing from Jewish families settled in India, especially in and around the region of Mumbai, who played female roles in Indian movies from the early twentieth century.

I did not know that the famous actress Nadira was a Florence Ezekiel.

Yet another evidence of a strong Jewish DNA in Indian culture.

Going by the mindless and brainless douchebags that dominate today's Bollywood, the Jewish DNA might sound like a joke or a phantom of the past.