The dwindling Jewish community in India has found a passionate chronicler in Mumbai-based Rohan Sabharwal. He is the director of a documentary film titled Where The Heart Is , about the Jews of Cochin, Kerala, that will be screened tonight. While the idea of making this film had been playing on Sabharwal’s mind for years, it materialised with the help of Mathew Antony, a senior from Lawrence School, Lovedale, the boarding school he went to.
“Mathew is the grandson of Abraham Barak Salem, a famous Jewish nationalist in Cochin. Because of his family background, he knew the last surviving members of the community quite intimately. He took us from house to house in Jew Town. I got to talk to various people, including his uncle and aunt, who were quite old. He even got me permission to film at various synagogues in Cochin. This is something that is rarely permitted. I filmed scrolls, historical paintings, and other administrative records that very few have access to,” says Sabharwal, who graduated from the London Film School.
The film has been shot in India and Israel. Sabharwal conducted 13 interviews, each one growing out of relationships built with Jewish families he stayed with. Many of them moved to Israel for religious reasons, or for better business prospects, or to find spouses for themselves. They spoke to Sabharwal about their family histories, the gradual decline of Malayalam as a language of communication after moving to Israel, their longing for friends left behind in India, among other things. In Israel, he filmed in Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Misgav.
As Sabharwal got to know his subjects better, he felt drawn into their personal struggles. He recalls, in particular, a man called Elias Josephai, who is the caretaker of the Kadhvumbagham Synagogue in Ernakulam. “He has been trying very hard to look for funds to maintain the synagogues and cemeteries in Kerala. He has been contacting Jewish organisations all over the world but his efforts have not yielded much success so far. He has no intentions of leaving India. However, his daughter has already migrated to Israel.”
Sabharwal’s research led him to discover that there is a great diversity of experience amongst the various Jewish communities of India. They have settled in various cities such as Mumbai, Surat, Kolkata, and even parts of Manipur and Andhra Pradesh. However, his initial research revolved around the Bene Israel Jews living in Mumbai.
He says, “Much like the Parsis, Jews from Europe and other parts of the world, particularly Baghdad, came to India to escape persecution. They became successful business people and eventually, major philanthropists. They set up schools, hospitals, docks, libraries, museums, etc. In fact, David Sassoon’s contributions have even been towards the Gateway of India. He donated his old residence to the Parsi Trust, which we today know as Masina Hospital, in Byculla. Victoria Gardens, now known as Rani Baug or Jijamata Udyaan, was also his property. He was the leader of the Jewish community here, and also helped arouse a sense of Jewish identity among the already existing communities, like the Bene Israel and the Cochin communities.”
Sabharwal hopes that his film will acquaint audiences in Mumbai and elsewhere with the history of Jewish communities in India since they are absent from official narratives taught in school textbooks. The screening tonight will be preceded by a food festival beginning at 7 pm, which will serve Cochini Jewish cuisine prepared by Auroni Mookerjee, who is a chef at The Hive. The menu will include kadathala pastel, polappam, chikkiyathu, mutta kari and chicken roast. All the recipes have been sourced from Spice and Kosher , a book by Dr Essie Sassoon, Bala Menon and Kenny Salem. Sabharwal met Sassoon while working on this film.
Where The Heart Is , will be shown at The Hive at 9 pm today.
(The author is a freelance writer)
