Hyderabad: Liora Itzhak, Israel's most renowned and only Bollywood singer, who had made Mumbai her base for her Bollywood debut as a playback singer over two decades ago, said she and her family are mostly living in bunkers at her Central South home in Israel which is just 40 minutes away from Gaza.
"Deafening sound of missiles and constant fear of being wiped out are haunting us. We are spending sleepless nights and many elderly persons who are Holocaust survivors are again reliving the agony," Liora said. Recounting the horror, she said some of her elderly acquaintances, who are Holocaust survivors, were taken hostage by Hamas.
Liora recalled the horror attack on Saturday which was first informed by her 16-year-old daughter who received the alarm on her mobile app. "The attack occurred when we were preparing for the festival. I was sleeping at home when my daughter came rushing and informed me about the bombardment and sinister attack," she said.
Itzhak was chosen to sing the national anthems of Israel and India to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Liora was also selected by the Israeli President's office to sing at the banquet dinner hosted in honour of President Pranab Mukherjee's Isreal visit in 2015.
Born in Lod to Indian Jewish (Bene Israel) parents from Gujarat, Itzhak moved to India at the age of 16. Her much-acclaimed Bollywood song Mala Mala made her famous. Liora has sung duets with Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, and Sonu Nigam while she was in India. Between 1991 and 1997, she also sang bhajans and ghazals.
At the age of 23, Liora felt homesick having spent eight years away in India away from her parents and siblings in Israel, and returned to Israel. Mala Mala, what she termed 'Israeli Bollywood number', made her famous even in the Israeli music industry. Liora's Tu Hai Mera Pyar Pehla was a fusion of Hindi and Hebrew words and the song made her a household name in Israel.
