Mary Ann Evans (8 January 1908 – 9 January 1996), also known by her stage name Fearless Nadia, was an Australian-born Indian actress and stuntwoman, who worked in

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

. She is most remembered as the masked, cloaked adventurer in ''

Hunterwali ''Hunterwali'' () is a 1935 Indian Hindi-language action film by the Wadia Movietone company of Bombay (now Mumbai), featuring Fearless Nadia as the heroine. A story of a princess who fights injustice as the masked crusader Hunterwali (lit. "lad ...

'', released in 1935,Mary Evans Wadia, aka Fearless Nadia Biography
tifr.res.in. Retrieved 22 November 2015.

NFAI The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964. It is was a member of the International Federation of Film Archives. In March 2022, it was merged with ...

.Profile and images
memsaabstory.wordpress.com, 19 February 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2015. which was one of the earliest female-lead

Indian films The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

. She is often referred to as a

sex symbol A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive.Pam Cook, "The trouble with sex: Diana Dors and the Blonde bombshell phenomenon", In: Bruce Babinigton (ed.), ''British Stars and Stardom: From Alma Taylor to ...

Biography

Early life

Fearless Nadia was born as Mary Ann Evans on 8 January 1908 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. She was the daughter of Scotsman Herbertt Evans, a volunteer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, and Margret. They lived in Australia, before coming to India. Mary was one year old when Herbertt's regiment was seconded to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Mary came to Bombay in 1913 at the age of five with her father. In 1915, her father’s untimely death at the hands of

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

prompted the family’s move to

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

(now in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

). She learnt horseback riding, hunting, fishing, and shooting during a stay in the

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...

(now

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

). In 1928, she returned to Bombay (Mumbai) with her mother and a son, Robert Jones, about whom not much is known, and then studied ballet under Madam Astrova. She had earlier tried her hand at a job in the Army & Navy Store in Bombay (Mumbai) as a salesgirl and had at one point wanted to learn "short-hand and typing to get a better job". Astrova’s troupe performed for British soldiers at military bases, for Indian royalty, and for other crowd in small towns and villages. She mastered the art of cartwheels and splits, which came in handy later during her film stunts. An Armenian fortune teller had foretold that a successful career lay ahead but she would have to choose a name starting with the letter ‘N’. She chose the name Nadia because it was "exotic-sounding".

Career of Tapasree

She toured India as a theatre artist and began working for Zarko Circus in 1930. She was introduced to

Hindi films Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

by Jamshed "J.B.H." Wadia who was the founder of

Wadia Movietone Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. H. Wadia and Homi Wadia. It was most known for stunt, fantasy and mythological films, including ''Hunterwali'' (1 ...

, the behemoth of stunts and action in 1930s Bombay. At first, J.B.H. was bemused at Mary's insistence on trying out for the movies, but he took a gamble by giving her a cameo as a slave girl (in a hand-painted colour sequence that accentuated her blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes) in the film ''Desh Deepak'', and then as Princess Parizaad in ''Noor-e-Yaman''. Nadia proved a huge hit with the audience, whereupon, considering her skills at performing circus and other stunts, J.B.H., by then joined by his younger brother Homi, chose to develop her into a star. In 1967-68, when she was in her late 50s, she appeared in a James Bond spoof called '' Khiladi'' (''The Player'').

Personal life

Nadia married

Homi Wadia Homi Wadia (22 May 1911 – 10 December 2004) was an Indian film director and producer in Bollywood (Hindi cinema). He was the co-founder of Wadia Movietone productions, established in 1933 and later after the closure of Wadiatone, he founded Ba ...

in 1961 and thus became Nadia Wadia.

Death

Nadia died on 9 January 1996, a day after her 88th birthday, due to age-related diseases.

Legacy

In 1993, Nadia's great grandnephew, Riyad Vinci Wadia, made a documentary of her life and films, called ''Fearless: The Hunterwali Story''. After watching the documentary at the 1993

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

, Dorothee Wenner, a German freelance writer, and film curator, wrote ''Fearless Nadia'' ''- The true story of Bollywood's original stunt queen'', which was subsequently translated into English in 2005. In

Vishal Bharadwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bh ...

's Hindi film ''

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

'', the role played by

Kangana Ranaut Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...

was inspired by Nadia. On 8 January 2018, Google displayed a doodle paying tribute to Fearless Nadia’s 110th birthday. The artist commissioned for the doodle was the Indian comic illustrator Devaki Neogi.

Filmography (selected)

References

External links

*
Hunterwali imagesFearless Nadia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fearless Nadia 1908 births 1996 deaths Actresses from Perth, Western Australia Australian film actresses Australian stunt performers Indian film actresses Indian stunt performers Australian emigrants to India Australian expatriate actresses in India Actresses in Hindi cinema People with acquired Indian citizenship People who lost Australian citizenship Wadia family 20th-century Australian actresses