Indian cinema has been categorized into different genres and it has often been dominated by romantic classics or comedy entertainers but a special place has been created for action flicks.
The origin of this genre is attributed to one woman who gave birth to stunt cinema in India. Her name is Nadia also called Fearless Nadia.
It was the year 1935 when a film by name ‘Hunterwali’ released and people were shocked to see a lady performing some daredevil stunts.
Nadia’s real name is Mary Evans and she was an excellent ballerina and also worked as a circus artiste. She used to entertain the Indian and British soldiers during World War 1 with her dance. It was here she got spotted by Homi Wadia.
He took Nadia to his elder brother J B H Wadia who was already a heavyweight in film production. ‘Hunterwali’ had one thrill every minute and Nadia performed many stunts on her own.
This paved the way for many other stunt flicks like Lady Robinhood, Toofan Queen, Himmatwali, Jungle Princess, Muqabla, Miss Frontier Mail, Diamond Queen, Hurricane Hamsa and others.