Entertainment News Desk!! Mary Evans or Mary Evans Wadia or Fearless Nadia (born January 8, 1908, Australia; died January 10, 1996, Mumbai) was one of the famous actresses of Indian cinema. Not only in Hindi, in the history of any Indian language cinema, there has never been such a bold, fearless, brave, stuntman, Tarzan or Robin Hood style heroine till date. In the thirties and forties of Indian cinema, Nadia gave such a courageous performance as a courageous actress that she destroyed many beliefs of the traditional Indian society. Nadia was a big star in her time. He had given many hit films on his own. But Nadia could not get the respect she deserved.
birth and naming
Nadia was born on January 8, 1908 in the city of ‘Perth’, Western Australia. His father’s name was Herbert Evans, who was a soldier in the British Army. Mother’s name was Greek Margaret. Earlier Nadia was named ‘Mary Evans’, but on the advice of an American astrologer, she changed from ‘Mary Evans’ to ‘Nadia’.
arrival in india
When Nadia was only five years old, her father was transferred to Bombay (present day Mumbai), and the entire family moved to India. In the First World War, he was sent to the French front, where he was killed. After the death of her father, Nadia’s mother settled in Bombay.
beginning of professional life
When Nadia regained consciousness, she became a sales girl in naval stores to help her mother. Then he took up the responsibility of secretary. During this time he met Russian ballet dancer Madame Astrov. Nadia also lost weight to learn ballet. Also worked for some time in ‘Zhako Russian Circus’ and showed his acrobatics. She began entertaining British-Indian audiences with ballet performances. Meanwhile, when Homi Wadia saw Nadia in a show, he got mesmerized by her. After the screen test, Nadia got signed for ‘Wadia Movietone’ in such a way that Homi became the owner of Wadia’s ‘Home’.[1]
acting
Nadia acted for the first time in 1933 in the Hindi film ‘Lal-e-Yaman’, which was produced by JBH Wadia of ‘Wadia Movietone’. Nadia, known as ‘Hunterwali’ in India, worked in more than 35 films in the 1930s and 1940s. Finding a hero for the tall and fair-skinned Nadia was a difficult task. John Kawas, the winner of ‘All India Body Beautiful Competition’, had a wonderful personality. He was a tall man with a strong physique. That’s why he was made the hero of Nadia. John Kavas had a huge contribution behind Nadia’s success.
success in hindi films
After doing small roles in the initial two-three films, JBH Wadia wrote the script of the film “Hunterwali” in 1935. During this period, dumb cinema was coming out of its religious, mythological and historical caves. Prabhat Film Company, New Theatres, Bombay Talkies were making films of their own style. The Wadia brothers started their own trend. It was inspired by American Tarzan movies, westerns, cowboy style. Nadia was offered stunt films.
‘Hunterwali’ was a heroine oriented film. In those days a film used to be made for sixty thousand rupees. JBH Wadia made the budget of ‘Hunterwali’ Rs. 80 thousand. When distributors saw the film, they backed away after seeing the hunter and the sword in the heroine’s hands. Forced to do so, the Wadia brothers released the film ‘Hunterwali’ in partnership with their friend Bilimoria. Till now the audience had either seen the nymphs or goddesses of heaven showering flowers or had seen the women confined to their homes who were always crying, crying and dreaming. They were astonished to see such a courageous woman performing amazing stunts on screen. The film ‘Hunterwali’ was such a hit at the box office that Nadia became a super star overnight. Thus the caravan of stunt films started.[1]
courageous woman
Nadia was truly a brave woman. The proof of this comes from the film “Jungle Princess”. In a scene of this film, Nadia fights with four lions. Despite not having good Hindi pronunciation, Nadia spoke long dialogues in the film “Pahari Kanya”. Nadia, who is an expert in action, also gave many emotional scenes with great skill. He made the audience cry by delivering emotion-packed dialogues in the film “Mauj”.
At that time the technology was not so advanced that stunt scenes could be done easily. There was a risk to life while performing stunt scenes. Nadia was adept at doing stunts. She broke her bones several times, but she always performed her own stunts. The audience was stunned after watching his stunt scenes. Like today’s Spiderman and Superman, Nadia also had an image. On screen, she played the character of a brave woman who followed the path of truth. Masked, with a hunter in her hand and tall shoes on her feet, when she taught a lesson to her enemies, the cinema hall echoed with applause and whistles from the audience. Horse and dog were Nadia’s companions in the films. Nadia was very fond of wrestling, fencing, horse riding, jumping from anywhere, fighting on a moving train, and doing stunts like sitting on a horse from a train. Nadia and John Kawas were fond of performing stunts on moving trains. Therefore, sequels to the train films were made, whose names were – Frontier Mail, ‘Punjab Mail’ and ‘Delhi Express’.[2]
statement
Nadia was a superwoman. On the strength of his courage, he won the hearts of the audience. She was called ‘Free’, ‘Frank’, ‘Fearless Stunt Queen Nadia’. In the promotion of her film “Diamond Queen”, Nadia had written – “There will be more tiring films, the audience gets filled with enthusiasm after watching my film.”[2]
last movie
His last stunt film was “Circus Queen”. In 1959, she married her producer-director Homi Wadia and retired from films. She last appeared on screen in 1968 in a small role in the film “Khiladi”. The people who sat in the front in the cinema hall were called ‘Chavanni Class’ at that time. He was crazy about Nadia. He enjoyed watching Nadia’s amazing feats. In those times when women always stood behind men. Considered extremely weak, Nadia’s success was truly astonishing.
major films
The names of some of Nadia’s main films are as follows
Lal A Yaman – 1933 Hunterwali – 1935 Miss Frontier Mail – 1936 Punjab Mail – 1939 Diamond Queen – 1940 Hunterwali’s Daughter – 1943 Stunt Queen – 1945 Himmatwali – 1945 Lady Robinhood – 1946 Toofan Queen – 1947 Delhi Express – 1949 Carnival Queen – 1955 Circus Queen – 1959 The Player – 1968
demise
From 1935 to 1968, Nadia worked in a total of 42 films. He died on January 10, 1996 in Mumbai, India.
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