Fearless Nadia

Fearless Nadia (8 January 1908 – 9 January 1996) was an Indian film actress and stuntwoman, who is most remembered the masked, cloaked adventuress in Hunterwali (The Princess and the Hunter) made in 1935 NFAI., which was one of the earliest female lead Indian films .

Biography

Early life

Fearless Nadia was born as Mary Ann Evans on 8 January 1908 in Perth, Western Australia. She was the daughter of Scotsman Herbertt Evans, a volunteer in the British Army, and Margret, a Greek dancer and theatre person. They lived in Australia, before coming to India. Mary was one year old when Herbertt's regiment was seconded to Bombay. Mary came to Bombay in 1913 at the age of five with her father. She learned horseback riding during a stay in the North-West Frontier Province and then studied ballet under Madam Astrova after returning to Bombay in the mid-1920s.

Career

She toured India as a theatre artist and began working for Zarko Circus in 1930. She changed her name to Nadia at the insistence of an Armenian fortune-teller. She made her debut in the Arabic film Makhazane el ochak (1932), which was filmed in Egypt. She was introduced to Hindi films by J.B.H. Wadia who was the founder of Wadia Movietone, the behemoth of stunts and action in 1930s Bombay.

She made her debut in Hindi films with Lal-e-Yaman (1933). The film became a huge hit at the box-office and she became famous with doing...
Read More