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by Emily Wax

“I knew there were Indian Jews,” said Danny Ben-Moshe, “but I had no idea there were such prominent Jewish onscreeen stars. I started digging and each find was the tip of the iceberg.” On Wednesday night, the Embassy of India in Washington hosted an event celebrating Ben-Moshe and his new documentary about the largely forgotten stories of Indian Jews and their screen roles during the golden years of Indian cinema.

The evening, co-sponsored by B’nai B’rith, featured black-and-white clips from “Shalom Bollywood – The Untold Story of Jews and Bollywood,” which was pieced together with patience and passion over a six-year period by Ben-Moshe — a professor at the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University in Australia — who spoke at the embassy event. While making the film, be traveled to India five times, interviewing dozens of people and looking for archives, “in museums, homes and markets.”  …more.