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Jael Silliman

Film personalities and others in the public gaze

The cinema was a very popular pastime among the Jewish community. Theater and acting were popular among men and women. As Indian women were mostly not allowed to act in film and as the Jewish community was less conservative than their Indian counterpart, a few Jewish women joined the film industry in its formative period. Pramila, (a screen name for Esther Victoria Abraham), followed steps of her cousin Romila became an movie and fashion icon and defined glam in the formative years of Bollywood. Among many honors, she won the first Miss India pageant. Pramila’s daughter, Naqui Jaan became Miss India  1967. Her son, Haider Ali became a famous screenwriter and a cinema persona. One of his most memorable movie performances was that in Khwaja Mere Khwaja. Solomon Bekhor in his youth was very active in the sphere of the theater. With his college friends he founded “The Amateur Shakespearean”, about which he wrote a captivating memoir Ezra Mir, one of the foremost documentary film-makers of India was also from the Jewish community. Ezra made hundreds of documentaries, newsreels and broadcasts. For his outstanding merits, he was awarded Padma Shri in 1970. Nancy Nevinson was a British film and TV actress with Calcutta roots.

Solomon Bekhor

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Nancy Nevinson

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Rachel Cohen

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Ezra Mir (1903–1993)

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Naqui Jaan

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Pramila

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R. J. Minney

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Haider Ali

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Arati Devi

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Solomon Bekhor and Amateur Shakespearean Theater

Utpal and Solomon

Solomon Bekhor was an active presence in Calcutta’s theatre space. He had worked with Utpal Dutta on several occassions and had also served as a music director in Dutt’s Little Theatre productions.

Solomon Bekhor wrote a story about his family and his young days. Read it here

My involvement in Theater, by Solomon Bekhor

So many years have passed, where do I begin, let’s start from my student days when I was studying for my BSC degree at St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta, where by chance I met Utpal Dutt, who one day was to become a great actor, politician and writer (See his Wikipedia page)

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We discovered that we had lots in common regarding acting and opening a Theatre, with the help of the Rector at St. Xavier’s we were allowed to perform there as they had a good Theatre which was used by ENSA during the war. We called our Theatre “The Amateur Shakespearian” (See the the page and my article about the birth of our Theatre). About this time an English travelling  Theatre company came to Calcutta and called themselves Shakespeareana. The family troupe consisted of Jeffrey Kendal, his wife Laura Liddle, daughters Jennifer Bragg and Felicity Kendal. Utpal joined them and later I also got parts. This is quite amusing I got a part in Hamlet as Rosenkranz and on the opening night the Governor of Bengal was present. While Jeffrey was giving his speech as Hamlet, Protap Roy as Guildenstein was dragging me off the stage but Jeffrey did not finish his speech and dragged us back.

Several years after I met Jeffrey in London and he remembered that scene and we had a good laugh. We decided to call our Theatre ” The Little Theatre”. We were now well established at the time I was studying violin at the Calcutta School ofMusic and I mentioned to Utpal  why not have live background music with the play, so with my friends at the School of Music I formed “The Amateur Shakespearian Orchestra”. The Kendals had records but we had a proper orchestra which I directed and played the violin. I kept all the programmes and Utpal”s widow Sova who was a well-known actress was delighted. The programmes are now in the archives and Foundation for Utpal Dutt and my article is in the book “Epic Theatre”.

In 1984/85 I made contact with Utpal and was invited to come to Calcutta and take part in a film about a Russian character Lebedeff (1749-1815) and a Russian Film Company will also be involved I went to Calcutta and met Utpal and the Russians, unfortunately Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated and there were elections and the film was postponed. This for me was also a nostalgia trip, I had a good video camera at that time very few people in India had video cameras. There was a project in a place outside Calcutta called ANTARA  where also Mother Theresa was involved, it was a project for the poor to be self-supporting and my videoing helped the project I went to a play where Utpal and his wife Sova were acting. After the play, Utpal introduced me to the actors and he was very gracious and said that I was one of the founder members of The Little Theatre.

Read Solomon’s memoir on Calcutta’s Little Theater founded by him and Utpal Dutt “Happy Memories – Our Student Years – Birth of the Little Theatre”

For more information and documents on Little Theatre activity see here:

Nancy Nevinson

Nancy Nevinson by Jennifer Spencer

The actress Nancy Nevinson appeared in many films, plays and on television. Nancy was also a voice-over artist, a dialect coach and a drama coach.

Her films include:
Foxhole in Cairo (1960), Light in the Piazza(1962), Mrs. Gibbons’ Boys (1962), Ring of Spies (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), For the Love of Ada (1972), Symptoms (1974), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), S.O.S. Titanic (1979), Le Pétomane (1979), Raise the Titanic (1980),Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), and Mrs Dalloway (1997).

Nancy Nevinson was also known as Nancy Ezekiel and Nancy Hoyes-Cock.
Nancy Nevinson (1918-2012) was the daughter of David Ezekiel (1885-1946)and Reemah Ezekiel (née Kadoorie) (1892-1971). Reemah and David Ezekiel had four children: Anna Ramah Ezekiel, Rachel Ezekiel, Herbert Hugh Ezekiel and Nancy Ezekiel.

It is not clear when the family left Calcutta, but the family were living at 1, Avenue Road, St Johns Wood, London, in the 1930s. Nancy trained at RADA and took the stage name Nancy Nevinson.

Nancy met Commander William Hoyes-Cock (1905-1973) when she was touring with the the Entertainments National Service Association(ENSA), an organisation set up in 1939 to provide entertainment for the British armed forces during World War 2.
Nancy Ezekiel and William Hoyes-Cock were married and had three children, Nigel, Jennifer (Gennie) and Hugh Hoyes-Cock.

Nancy’s son, Nigel, and daughter, Gennie, have followed in Nancy’s footsteps and are both actors:  Nigel Nevinson and Gennie Nevinson. In 2001, Nancy moved to Glebelands Retirement Home for Actors in Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Nancy died there on 25 January 2012, aged 93.

Ramola: Rachel Cohen

Rachel Cohen was known in her film career as Ramola. She was born in 1917 in Bombay. A few years after, her family moved to Calcutta, where Rachel started her acting career. One of her most memorable roles include a female lead in Khazanchi, a 1941 blockbuster mystery movie,with famous Saawan Ke Nazaare Hain song. She appeared in several Hindi and Bengali features from late 1930s to early 1950s and retired from movies in 1951. Her Khazanchi (1943) appearance turned her into an All-India star.  She was also a face of Lux soap campaign in 1940s. Rachel was married twice and had three children: Sam, Linda and Dena. Rachel passed away in 1988 in Bombay.

For more on Ramola’s film career, read her profile on Upperstall.com

Watch one of Ramola’s most famous songs, Sawan Ke Najare Hai:

Ezra Mir – Pioneer of documentary movies

Ezra Mir (1903–1993)

A PIONEER IN DOCUMENTARY FILM

Mir changed his birth name, Edwyn Myers, to Ezra Mir to make his name more Indian sounding. He first worked as a stage actor and moved to New York in 1924 to work in the film industry. He was first an actor and then started editing film. During this period he made Symbolesque, his first short film (1929).

He returned to India in 1931 and joined Imperial Film Company, that was set up by Ardershir Irani in 1926. At Imperial, Mir directed Noorjehan (1931). He soon left Imperial for Sagar Film Company where Mir directed films like Zarina (1932) and other Parsee Theatre derived films.

Mir then joined Madan Theatres in 1934-5 where he made many films till Madan Theaters closed down in the late 30s. Mir traveled to Europe for a study tour and returned to India to make perhaps his most well-known films, Rickshawala (1938) for Ranjit Movietone in Bombay and Sitara (1939), made at Everest Pics.

After making several more films Mir joined the Film Advisory Board in 1940. The Film Advisory Board, established in 1940, was the first example of direct state documentery film production in India. Mir worked as Chief Producer for them till 1946, producing over 170 films. The Information Films of India produced war propaganda documentaries and the Indian News Parade, the ancestor to Films Division’s Indian News Review.

Mir moved on to India Film Enterprises and then to Films Division in 1951, becoming its Chief Producer in 1956 continuing till 1961. Mir was also the founding president of IDPA, the Indian Documentary Producers Association in 1956 and the Producer-In-Charge of Children’s Film Society from 1962 – 1964. From 1940 onwards, once he entered the field of documentary filmmaking, Mir was responsible in various capacities as script-writer, cameraman, editor, director and producer for over 700 films! Of these over 400 were in his tenure at Films Division. Some of the well-known films are Pamposh (1954), Do You Know? (1958), This Our India (1961) and Raju aur Gangaram (1964).

Ezra Mir was honoured by the Government of India with the Padmashri in 1970. He passed away in Mumbai on 7th March, 1993.

Naqui Jaan-Pramila’s daughter and Miss India 1967

Pramila: A Life in Film

Family Background:

Esther Victoria Abraham was born in Calcutta on December 30th, 1916. Her father, Reuben Abraham,1 was a businessman. The family owned O’ Brian and Company (adapted and Anglicized from Abraham), that laid railway lines and received Government contracts to make signal stations. They were involved in other business enterprises too – they ran a printing press, traded in cotton futures, and owned The Temperance hotel that was on the terrace of the New Market. Reuben married Liya, a Christian woman, who bore him three girls – Flory, Ramah, and Tutu. The couple longed for a son.

Story has it that Jaddan bai (pir bai bahen to Reuben) lived in the family compound (Jaddan was the mother of Nargis who became a very famous Hindi film star). Jaddan took Reuben to see a man who she thought could grant him this wish. The man who could look into the future forewarned Reuben that if he would have a son he would lose his wife and all his wealth in that quest. True to the dire forecast, Liya lost her life in giving birth to Jimmy.

 

Reuben felt he needed a mother for his children and put the word out in the Jewish community that he wished to remarry. His marriage was arranged with Matilda. Matilda, who was then 14 years, lived in Karachi. Her father, Dr. Albert Isaac was a respected eye surgeon and built the first Eye Cure Hospital on Bunder Road in 1900.2 Matilda came to live with Reuben in his large joint family home at 9 Bentinck Street, Bowbazaar. It was a three-storied building with godowns and outhouses. Matilda had many children, her eldest was Esther. After Esther came Raymond, Sophie and Joseph (Jo Jo), Johnny, Marina3 and Mozelle. Mozelle died when she was only eight years old.

Esther was very fond of her paternal grandmother, who she was named after. Esther Shamma (her grandmother) was a very beautiful woman, who would cook for over 30 members of the family. Esther Shamma had been married to a wealthy Hindu gentleman who had died when he was very young. As a widow she reverted to her maiden name and became the matriarch of the family.

Over the years, the Abraham family fortunes declined, and Reuben’s losses in gambling and racing aggravated the situation. The family weathered many financial challenges and confronted a major loss when the Temperance Hotel caught fire. Reuben went into debt, as O’Brian and Company had also lost many business contracts. These financial reverses lead Reuben to shift his business interests to wholesale marketing. However, this business did not do well either.

Growing up years:

Esther, attended Calcutta Girls’ High School, but shifted to St James which was a co-educational school at that time, and more reasonable in its fee structure, which was important as the family means declined. The Abrahams moved to Rippon Street, and the school was closer to their new place. Esther quickly learned that to excel she had to be better than the boys. She proved not only a good student, but also to be a very talented sportswoman. She was a hockey champion and won many trophies in sports. Esther was very good at drawing, and on graduating from High School qualified and received an Arts Degree, administered from Cambridge.

On completing her high school degree, she went to work as a kindergarten teacher in the Talmud Torah Boy’s School. Esther was so pretty that the boys in the school would find all kinds of excuses to go and speak to their very attractive and glamorous teacher. The stunning looking teacher at the Talmud Torah was ambitious, and despite having completed her B.Ed. degree, did not stay long in the teaching profession.

From Esther to Pramila:

Esther was very drawn to the Hindi cinema that was emerging in those years. She also had an interest in the theater. These interests were not surprising as the entire family was quite exposed to Indian dance and music. Jaddan Bai, was a singer and dancer. Mr. J J Madan owned the Corinthian Theater where Rose, Esther’s first cousin, and her younger sister Sophie, were actors. Esther married a Marwari theater personality and had a son, Maurice Abraham. Her parents annulled this marriage and they brought up Maurice.

Esther admired her cousin Rose Ezra and her sister Sophie (Romila) who had left Calcutta to join the Bombay film industry. 4 A visit to them in Bombay changed the trajectory of her life. Director R. S, Chowdhari spotted Esther while she visited the studio where Rose was acting in The Return of the Toofan Mail. Chowdhari thought tall and statuesque Esther was more suitable to play the part. Esther was given a screen test there and then and was signed up immediately. And so her career in the Bombay film industry ensued. The Return of the Toofan Mail, however, was never completed.

Esther stayed on in Bombay and was signed up to work at Irani’s Imperial Company. In those days actors were bound to the studio. Esther was loaned to Movietone to play a Westernized vamp in Bhikaran. When Bhikaran was released in 1935, Esther’s Anglicized Hindi became quite a rage. It was Baburao Pendharkar who gave her the screen name Pramila. Pramila acted in many movies including Ulti Ganga, the first version of Mother India, Bijli, Burra Nawab Sahib, Jungle King, Shahzadi, Jhankar, Our Darling Daughter, Maha Maya, Basant, Bekasoor, and other popular Hindi films, often playing the role of the Vamp.

Esther was a good seamstress and she often designed, drew and sewed her own costumes which were saris with a Western twist, much like contemporary styles. A fashion icon, her face and form dominated magazines of the 30’s and 40’s.

“When she wore the latest designs in a sari or blouse, the styles would become a rage immediately….With her Western sensibilities and features, Pramila represented the Western woman of that time. She acted in nearly 30 films and played roles that were antithesis of the lead roles played by sari-clad heroines. She was the vamp who played the piano.”5

Pramila and her Family

Marriage and Family:

In 1939 Esther married Bollywood film star, Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi whose screen name was Kumar (Kumar is best known for his role as the sculptor of Anarkali in Mughal-E-Azam). Zaidi was a practicing Shia Muslim. While they were married and her name was made out as Shabnam Begum Ali in the Nikhanama, Esther remained a practicing Jewess to the end. Zaidi/Kumar had a wife and children in Lucknow, but Esther and he lived together for twenty-two years in Bombay. They lived a lavish life-style – they danced all night long at the Taj, they were regulars at the races and loved fast cars. In these heady days, Pramila was one of the favorite models of A.J.Patel and even got a couple of film offers from Hollywood. The outbreak of the War came in the way of those offers materializing.

The glamorous couple had four children: Akbar, Asghar, Naqi and Haider. Esther was voted as the first Miss India in 1947 when she was pregnant with her fifth child. She received the Miss India trophy at Liberty Cinema from Moraji Desai.6 Naqi was the only girl on both sides of the family. She was sent to boarding school at La Martiniere, Lucknow. Later she was placed in an Urdu medium School for a few years, and then attended Mount Mary School in Bombay.

Haidar speaks fondly of his siblings Khurshed and Pyare from his father’s first wife. He wonderfully captures the inclusive atmosphere of his family, which was close to both cousins on both sides, as “a family of yours, ours and mine”. Though the children were taught to follow the Muslim faith, Esther was staunchly Jewish and the children followed Jewish customs too and attended religious functions like Passover Seder at their grandparents’ home first in Calcutta, and then in Bombay, where their grandparents moved to be close to Pramila.

Esther was very proud of her Jewish identity and registered the ration cards for her children in her name. For example, Naqi’s ration card states her name as Naqi Ali Abraham, as do the cards of her other children. Haider says: “we went to synagogues and to mosques. Both religions got equal play in our home.” Esther celebrated the festivals and attended the synagogue. Iraqi Jewish food was regularly cooked in her home. Pramila’s parents helped her buy a home near Shivaji Park, and the home was called Pramila Vilas, still in the family’s possession.

Esther and Hassan Ali started their own film production Company called Silver Films 7 in 1942. Esther felt stifled by the powerful studio system where actors worked as paid employees of studios. Raising money for films and producing their own films was a risky and tough business, but the Company produced several films, and she acted in some of them.

When Zaidi sought to join his elder brother who moved to Pakistan along with his extended family from Lucknow, Esther was astounded. She was not ready to uproot her family and start life all over again. She refused to live in a theocratic country and so, despite the challenges, stayed on in India with her five children and continued to produce films. The last film she acted in was Murad in 1964.

Pramila: A Life in Photographs

Launching her Children:

Difficult times were ahead for Esther and her family as the film world was a man’s world and hard for her to manage without Kumar at her side. For two decades she battled in the courts to get back properties from the Government. However, Esther was a strong woman and took both success and difficulties in her stride. Very much part of the film world she tried to launch her children in Bollywood. Her daughter Naqi Jahan became a very well known model and Miss India in 19678. Naqi received the title at the Catholic Gymkhana, and Esther and Naqi are the only mother and daughter duo to have claimed this title.

Naqi was a very successful still model, and had many shoots to her credit. Naqi gave up her glamorous world when she opted for a married life with Mr. Kamdar, a Gujarati businessman and owner of the Kamdar furniture store in Churchgate. Naqi converted to Hinduism and is now Nandini Kamdar. Akbar became a staunch Wahabi Muslim and married a Sunni, Asghar remained Muslim but married a Hindu. Maurice remained Jewish, and married a Hindu. Asghar, and Akbar both did some modeling but eventually opted to start businesses of their own, as did Maurice.

Haidar, the youngest son lived with his mother all his life. He was devoted and determined to make it in film and had started acting at a very young age. He was the only family member who had the requisite determination and grit to stay in the film industry through all its ups and downs. As a young man he became a stand-up comedian and played at the legendary Firpos in Calcutta to quite a lot of acclaim. He states:

“I wanted to start my life where my parents did. My father got a start in New Theater, Calcutta.”

Haidar was also a dancer, and was famous for dancing the Limbo. Today Haider is best known for writing the screenplay for Jodhaa Akbar, starring superstars Hritik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. Haidar appears in the song Khwaja Mere Khwaja in Jodhaa-Akbar where he plays a Sufi saint. He has also acted in many tele-films.

Haider, who is married to a Tamilian Brahmin, says that he was inspired to write Jodhaa Akbar. He found strong parallels between his life and the Mughul King Akbar who was known for religious toleration and for his devotion to his Hindu wife Jodhaa. Haidar sees the movie as his story: he learned so much from his Hindu wife who he has loved ever since he was a child.9 The movie became a major Bollywood hit. Its success is of great comfort to Haider who spent five years writing the screenplay for the movie.

Esther’s Legacy:

Esther, a very proud woman, always held her head up high no matter what the circumstances. Haider describes his mother as a

“woman who was gifted by God with internal power and strength…she magnetized power….. On the home front she kept us together,” he said, clenching his fist, “like this.”

That power and strength Esther personified, that Haidar vividly captures in the expression above, enabled her to weather the storms in her life. Through the financial and emotional upheavals, she took care of her children and her parents and her siblings. Syed Hassan Ali became an important star on the Pakistani screen, but his ties to his family in India were tenuous. He only paid a visit when the children were much older. Esther for the most part brought up her children on her own and kept the family together all through her life.

Esther died five months short of her ninetieth birthday – soon after she played the role of a grandmother in Amol Palekar’s Thang (Quest). At her funeral Maurice recited the scriptures in Hebrew at the Maghen David Synagogue, and Akbar recited the scriptures in Arabic. Esther was carried by her sons, Jewish and Muslim, and buried in the Jewish cemetery in Chinckpokli.

The story of this family is not only one of the silver screen, romance and stardom. It is also a story of great religious and cultural mixing. Esther’s grandmother, Esther Shumma married a Hindu. Her father Reuebn married a Christian and was pir bai of Jaddan Bai. Esther married a Hindu and a Muslim. While Esther remained a Jewess to the end, her children have embraced many different faiths – Maurice is Jewish, Akbar, Asghar and Haidar are Muslim, and Naqi has embraced Hinduism. Esther’s daughters-in-law are mostly Hindu, Haidar’s wife is Aiyar, and the entire family is deeply aware of their Jewish heritage and are very familiar with the Jewish prayers, traditions and culture.

See The rise and fall of Jews in Bollywood: http://weeklypresspakistan.com/2013/04/7196

Also the film Shalome Bollywood to be released.

Notes: 

1 Reuben was the son of Esther Shama Abraham who came from Baghdad. She married a Brahmin Zamindar but retained her religion. She had three children all of whom were boys. One son was Albert and the other son’s name is unknown by Esther’s family.
2 Pramila, An Autobiographical Note Based on the Visual History Workshop – August 31, 1997 organized by Sparrow, p 5, Publication No. 2, March 1998, Inland Printers, Mumbai.
3 Marina’s son is Abe Levy and is a religious Jew living in NYC.
4 Romila was also part of the Corinthian Theater playing comedy and dancing roles. One of the first films she acted in was called Calcutta by Midnight. Later she was attached to Mohan Sound Studio and acted in many stunt films such as Chabukwali, Lady Robin Hood and Cyclewalli. She joined the Women Auxiliary Force during World War 2, and soon after the war she died of cancer.
5 Dr. S C Laxmi, Director of Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW), in “Vamp No. One, The Sunday Read, Mumbai Mirror, Sunday Aug 13, 2006, p. 10.
6 “Miss India’s: Mother and Child”, The Sunday Express, Living 5, 14 May, 2006
7 Bombay Talkies launch of Silver Films by Pramila and Kumar. Left Esther, Sophie aside owner Devika rani who launched the Company, Chandra Mohan, Azuri, and Kumar.Behind is Rubin Abraham, and there are celebrities like Mehboob Khan, and A. R. Kardar in the second row.At the back is K.Asaf standing behind comedian Gop.
8 Persis Khambata in her book The Pride of India, that is all about India’s beauty Queens features both Premila and Naqi, the only family anywhere in the world where mother and daughter are both Beauty Queens
9 His wife is a Kidney specialist and the former Dean of Wadia Hospital.

R. J. Minney

RJ Minney was born in Calcutta in 1895 as Reuben Joseph Minney. Minney’s great uncle was E M D Cohen, the religious leader of the Calcutta community. When he emigrated to England he took the name of Rubeigh James Minney.

He was an accomplished novelist, playwright, biographer and film producer. He traveled extensively including having taken a journey to Tibet on horseback. He was among the first to fly across India and traveled a great deal in Europe and Asia. While in India he was on the editorial staff of The Pioneer, Allahabad and The Englishman. For a short period of time he worked in a film studio in Hollywood and wrote scripts thereafter for the Rank Organization in London.

As a journalist he served as the editor of Everybody’s, Sunday Referee and the Strand Magazine. Among the films he produced were The Wicked Lady, Madonna of the Seven Moons and The Final Text. He was also a prolific writer and his books include Gentle Ceasar, Tsar Nicholas II and Clive of India, which is a biolgraphy, play and film. Winston Churchill praised the play in the London Daily Mail.

His more than thirty books include a study of Charlie Chaplin’s life work entitled Chaplin – The Immortal Tramp and Carve Her Name With Pride, the work of Violette Szabo who was posthumously awarded the George Cross, also filmed.

Minney was also a politician in the Labor Party.

He died in England in 1979.

Haider Ali

Haider Ali is the son of Esther Victoria Abraham (Pramila) and M Kumar. He was the only child and continued to make his life in Indian film. He started life as a comedian, was an excellent limbo dancer, starred in television and film, and is best known for writing the screenplay of the much acclaimed Bollywood film Jodhaa Akbar. He also performs a sufi number in the film, Khwaja Mere Khwaja. The films in which he had acted include: Akriet (1981), Saaransh (1984), Aaj (1987), Main Zinda Hoon (1988), Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989), Baazi (1995), Trump Card ( 2009), Daayara (2010), to name a few.

Arati Devi (screen name of Rachel Sofaer)

Rachel Sofaer, born to a Jewish family in Calcutta, acted under the name of Arati Devi. She was a prominent artist in the silent film era of Indian cinema.