The actress was the star of India’s first sequel, made in the 1940s, and pre-dated Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn in her action role by decades.bollywood news

This week in the year: On the 116th birth anniversary of Fearless Nadia, we look back at the queen of the original series who starred in India’s first sequel.

Fearless Nadia was the face of the first sequel made in India.

sequels and franchises is the lifeblood of today’s movie business. Most films are part of a series or could be incorporated into a “cinematic universe” if successful. Even these films, which could be stand-alone stories, leave plenty of room for sequels. You might think this is a new phenomenon in Indian cinema, or something stolen from Western cinema, but the origins of Indian franchises go back to India. 1940s. And just like today, this became a surefire way to movie success as soon as it was introduced. The first film to have a sequel was the 1935 film Hunterwali. Original stunt queen Fearless Nadia And the sequel, released almost a decade later, revived her career.

In the 1930s, director Homi Wadia made a series of films that relied heavily on stunts, but unlike today, the leading actors themselves were responsible for the action scenes. Nadia earned the nickname “Fearless” and starred in most of these films, performing stunts with lions in sealed cages. In a 1980 interview with Girish Karnad, Homi said that the best era for stunt films was 1935-1940. While mythological and historical films attracted large audiences during this period, audiences were hooked when action films were shown to them in which all the stunts were performed by actresses of Australian descent. Nadia, born Mary, immigrated to India with her parents during World War I. And in her 1930s, she established herself as an actress who could pull off every stunt imaginable. Her English-style Hindi charmed her viewers and her abandonment of playing the role of a warrior succeeded in captivating the audience with her acting, making her one of the most popular characters in her films. gave her a unique status. While her other Indian female actors were known for their reserved and sensitive acting, Nadia was loved by audiences for her polar opposite acting.

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Fearless Nadia and Homi Wadia. The two married in 1961. (Photo: Wadia Movietone/Roy Wadia)

However, by the 1940s, when action films started losing their appeal and Nadia started looking for another career, Homi came up with the idea of ​​making a sequel to Hunter Wali. His ‘Hunter Wali Ki Beti’, starring the original cast members, was released in 1942 and revived the careers of Nadia and Homi. Prior to this, Homi’s business took a hit and his partnership with his younger brother JBH Wadia was also dissolved. The two brothers founded Wadia’s Movietone Studio and sold some of his equipment for 200,000 rupees when he found out that he was kicked out of the film industry when he based in V Shantaram. Ta.

Homi and Nadia are trying to get back on their feet and Nadia also starts attending a hairdressing course as she had to find a new job for herself. It was at this time that Homi came up with the idea for a sequel to his first blockbuster ‘Hunterwali’. As expected by Homi, ‘Hunterwali Ki Beti’ was a huge hit and their career was revived. Nadia starred in ten more successful films over the next decade, but by that time the world had changed enough and new studios were taking the lead. The Wadias knew that the style of filmmaking that made them unique and attracted audiences was now considered outdated, so they moved forward. But apart from giving Indian cinema many other firsts, they also gave us its first sequel.

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