Courtesy: Heritage Institute
Persia and India’s impact on each other go back to antiquity, but the extent of the Persian influence on the Parsi identity is more difficult to quantify. Despite their deep cultural connection, Parsis do not identify with Iran as the mother country. Reza Shah Pahlavi, impressed with their achievements in India, wanted them to return to Iran, but they could not be enticed to leave India.
Courtesy: Ruby Myers / Alchetron
The high point of Jewish glamour in Hindi films were led by Indian Baghdadi Jewish women – but also by German-speaking European Jewish male refugees in Bombay. Music composer-conductor-musician Walter Kaufmann, and his friend, scriptwriter Willy Haas, both German-speaking Czech Jews, introduced a new sensibility and modern techniques into the early talkie era of Hindi cinema