The return of Nadia Hunterwali
Yesterday was quite an uncanny day. The morning began with a phone call to Mr Chandrashekhar, who heads the Indian Cine Artists Association.
Yesterday was quite an uncanny day. The morning began with a phone call to Mr Chandrashekhar, who heads the Indian Cine Artists Association. I wanted the address of the fiery dancer-actress Sitara Devi, as well as some information about a long-dead matinee idol for a book I am researching. “Why are you writing a book on Indian cinema? Look at the number of books that have come out — on Dilip Kumar, Pran, Guru Dutt and so many others. Do you think anybody reads them? Nobody buys books about old film stars. Nobody is interested in the past…”
The voice of the 85-year-old veteran of Indian cinema trailed off, dismissively. The stars of the day, he lamented, were the only ones who now mattered. The entire history of Indian cinema might just as well have gone down the black hole of memory as far as the youth of the day was concerned, he added.
The afternoon brought an unexpected encounter with Roy Wadia, the grandson of JBH Wadia of Wadia Movietone and the grand-nephew of Homi Wadia. He, too, was despondent about the lack of interest in the history of Indian cinema, including that of Wadia Movietone, the studio that had churned out films of all genres ranging from the mythologicals to social dramas and swashbuckling adventure films.
What made the accidental meeting with Roy Wadia a bit uncanny was the fact that while rushing out of my home in Delhi to catch the morning flight to Mumbai, I picked up the first book that caught my eye in our higgledy-piggledy library to read on the journey. It was Dorothee Wenner’s fascinating Fearless Nadia, the True Story of Bollywood’s Original Stunt Queen.
Homi Wadia directed Mary Evans (an Armenian tarot card reader asked her to change her name to one beginning with the letter N) in over 20 films. He also married Indian cinema’s feminist icon who did her own stunts and is considered to have set the template for many action heroes who followed. The robust, blue-eyed blonde actress with thunder thighs and a raucous, signature Hey-y-y-y was the daughter of Herbert Evans, a Scotsman, who was in the British army during the First World War in the North-West Frontier, and Margaret, an eccentric Greek belly dancer who kept a rooster as a pet.
Nadia was all but forgotten for several generations after her last film Khiladi in 1968 until her other grandnephew, the late Riyad Wadia (Roy’s brother) made the riveting documentary on her. Fearless: The Hunterwali Story rekindled an interest in the actress when it was shown in festivals in 1994. There were even murmurs at the time that Hollywood was interested. Apparently, shortly before she died in 1996 Nadia asked Riyad if Hollywood was planning to make a film on her life.
Nothing happened then. But now, it seems, Hollywood is calling, and seriously too, according to Roy Wadia. Apparently, an Oscar-winning actress is keen to play the role of Nadia, and talks are on. A couple of Australian filmmakers are also interested in making a biopic on the legendary actress who posthumously gained a cult status.
Canada-based Roy Wadia — formerly a journalist with the CNN and now a consultant in Public Health — has returned to India to pick up the reins of Wadia Movietone. The studio which used to be in Chembur no longer exists. Nor do most of the people who were associated with it — or with Fearless Nadia. But the legacy does, along with a treasure trove of posters (many of them surreal), lobby cards, diaries, correspondence and books. And, of course, a few of the films.
The returning scion may not be able, or even want, to revive Wadia Movietone, which would have turned 75 this year had it survived the waning fortunes of the Wadia brothers. However, he can keep the memory of the incredible Nadia Hunterwali alive.
Here was the daughter of a British soldier who became, as Wenner puts it, the “cult cinematic symbol of the Indian freedom struggle”. Certainly something to Hey-y-y-y about.
Email: jain_madhu@hotmail.com
The voice of the 85-year-old veteran of Indian cinema trailed off, dismissively. The stars of the day, he lamented, were the only ones who now mattered. The entire history of Indian cinema might just as well have gone down the black hole of memory as far as the youth of the day was concerned, he added.
The afternoon brought an unexpected encounter with Roy Wadia, the grandson of JBH Wadia of Wadia Movietone and the grand-nephew of Homi Wadia. He, too, was despondent about the lack of interest in the history of Indian cinema, including that of Wadia Movietone, the studio that had churned out films of all genres ranging from the mythologicals to social dramas and swashbuckling adventure films.
What made the accidental meeting with Roy Wadia a bit uncanny was the fact that while rushing out of my home in Delhi to catch the morning flight to Mumbai, I picked up the first book that caught my eye in our higgledy-piggledy library to read on the journey. It was Dorothee Wenner’s fascinating Fearless Nadia, the True Story of Bollywood’s Original Stunt Queen.
Homi Wadia directed Mary Evans (an Armenian tarot card reader asked her to change her name to one beginning with the letter N) in over 20 films. He also married Indian cinema’s feminist icon who did her own stunts and is considered to have set the template for many action heroes who followed. The robust, blue-eyed blonde actress with thunder thighs and a raucous, signature Hey-y-y-y was the daughter of Herbert Evans, a Scotsman, who was in the British army during the First World War in the North-West Frontier, and Margaret, an eccentric Greek belly dancer who kept a rooster as a pet.
Nadia was all but forgotten for several generations after her last film Khiladi in 1968 until her other grandnephew, the late Riyad Wadia (Roy’s brother) made the riveting documentary on her. Fearless: The Hunterwali Story rekindled an interest in the actress when it was shown in festivals in 1994. There were even murmurs at the time that Hollywood was interested. Apparently, shortly before she died in 1996 Nadia asked Riyad if Hollywood was planning to make a film on her life.
Nothing happened then. But now, it seems, Hollywood is calling, and seriously too, according to Roy Wadia. Apparently, an Oscar-winning actress is keen to play the role of Nadia, and talks are on. A couple of Australian filmmakers are also interested in making a biopic on the legendary actress who posthumously gained a cult status.
Canada-based Roy Wadia — formerly a journalist with the CNN and now a consultant in Public Health — has returned to India to pick up the reins of Wadia Movietone. The studio which used to be in Chembur no longer exists. Nor do most of the people who were associated with it — or with Fearless Nadia. But the legacy does, along with a treasure trove of posters (many of them surreal), lobby cards, diaries, correspondence and books. And, of course, a few of the films.
The returning scion may not be able, or even want, to revive Wadia Movietone, which would have turned 75 this year had it survived the waning fortunes of the Wadia brothers. However, he can keep the memory of the incredible Nadia Hunterwali alive.
Here was the daughter of a British soldier who became, as Wenner puts it, the “cult cinematic symbol of the Indian freedom struggle”. Certainly something to Hey-y-y-y about.
Email: jain_madhu@hotmail.com