From Baghdad to Bombay

Few people would draw the connection between the rich businessman and philanthropist from Bombay, Sir David Sassoon and the first Miss India (1947) Esther Abraham, popularly known as Pramila from Calcutta. What they shared in common, was the fact that they belonged to the small community of Baghdadi Jews in India.

Today, numbered in a few hundreds in the country, this small and under the radar, community once controlled powerful businesses and the Hindi film industry. During the 18th century the Persian Gulf port of Basra in Iraq became a trading centre of the British East India Company and it was from here, that the Baghdadi Jews made their way to India.