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The Wadia family is a Parsi family from Surat, India currently based in Mumbai, India. The family rose to wealth in the mid-1700s as shipbuilders serving the British East India Company as the latter established its sway over India. During the declining years of the British Raj, Neville Wadia, scion of the main branch of the family, married Dina Jinnah, only child of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Despite being the only descendants of the founding father of Pakistan, the family chose to stick to their mills and factories in India rather than emigrate to the new country. They prospered abundantly under Nehru-Gandhi dispensation and today, they run the Wadia Group of companies, one of the larger industrial conglomerates in India.
Mary Ann Evans, also known by her stage name Fearless Nadia, was an Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman, who worked in Indian cinema. She is most remembered as the masked, cloaked adventurer in Hunterwali, released in 1935, which was one of the earliest female-led Indian films.
Babubhai Mistry was an Indian film director and special effects pioneer who is best known for his films based on Hindu mythology, such as Sampoorna Ramayana (1961), Mahabharat (1965), and Parasmani (1963) and Mahabharat
Riyad Vinci Wadia was an Indian independent filmmaker from Bombay, known for his short film, BOMgAY (1996), possibly the very first gay themed movie from India. Born into the filmmaking Wadia family, he inherited the production company Wadia Movietone which is known for the Fearless Nadia movies which are one of their kind in the superwoman and stunt genre when other movies of their time usually portrayed women in submissive roles. Wadia is also known for his award-winning documentary on Nadia, Fearless: The Hunterwali Story (1993), which was written about in Time magazine and made a name for Riyad at the very outset of his brief but impactful career.
Homi Wadia was an Indian film director and producer in Bollywood. He was the co-founder of Wadia Movietone productions, established in 1933 and later after the closure of Wadiatone, he founded Basant Pictures in 1942. In a career spanning five decades, he directed over 40 films, including Hunterwali (1935), Miss Frontier Mail (1936), Diamond Queen (1940), Shri Ram Bhakta Hanuman (1948) and fantasy film Hatim Tai (1956). He was also a founding member of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India, established in 1954. Homi Wadia was married to actress and stunt woman Fearless Nadia. Homi was the younger brother of JBH Wadia, who was himself a movie director.
Jamshed Boman Homi Wadia, commonly referred to as J. B. H. Wadia, was a prominent Bollywood movie director, screenwriter, producer and founder of Wadia Movietone Studio. He was born in prominent Parsi family which hailed from Surat, Gujarat whose ancestral business was ship building. Their family name of Wadia stands for master shipbuilders. In a family of entrepreneurs Wadia is credited with creation of movies involving populist stunt roles including those by Fearless Nadia and bringing concept of stunt actresses in Indian cinema.
Bambaiwali is a Bollywood action adventure film. It was released in 1941. The film was directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. It starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Sardar Mansoor, Dalpat and Boman Shroff.
Hunterwali is a 1935 Indian Hindi-language action film by the Wadia Movietone company of Bombay, featuring Fearless Nadia as the heroine. A story of a princess who fights injustice as the masked crusader Hunterwali, the film propelled Nadia and the Wadia brothers of Wadia Movietone to fame.
Diamond Queen is a 1940 Hindi action adventure comedy film. It was directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. It starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Radha Rani, Sayani Atish, Sardar Mansur, Dalpat, Kunjru, and Boman Shroff. This film was the seventh in the Diamond thriller series with the first being Veer Bharat in 1934, directed by Homi Wadia under the production of J. B. H. Wadia. It is cited as one of the best films produced by the Wadia brothers. The film's success saw Homi Wadia becoming a producer by which he was able to obtain raw stock for his films due to the rationing of two films per producer during the Second World War.
11 O'Clock is a 1948 action film directed by Homi Wadia. It starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Atish Sayani and Aftab. The Austin car, which was a regular in most Fearless Nadia films, was given a billing with the main cast as "Austin Ki Bacchi". The music was composed by Chitragupta. Homi Wadia had left Wadia Movietone, having parted ways with his brother JBH Wadia and started his own film company called Basant Pictures. He was to continue with the action genre, but produced more mythological films under this banner. His co-sponsor was M. B. Billimoria, who also distributed the film.
Hind Kesari is a 1935 Hindi action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia, and starring Husn Banu, Sardar Mansoor, Gulshan, Jal Khambatta, Tarapore and Master Mohammed. The film was a remake of the 1932 film of the same name, directed by Homi Master for Jayant Pictures. The film did well for a "stunt film" breaking "records" at the box office.
Lutaru Lalna is a 1938 Indian Hindi-language action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. The music was composed by Master Mohammed and Baldev Naik. The film starred Fearless Nadia, Boman Shroff, Sardar Mansoor, Sayani Atish and Sarita Devi.
Punjab Mail is 1939 action adventure Hindi film directed by Homi Wadia for Wadia Movietone. The score was provided by Madhavlal Damodar Master, and stars Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Sayani Atish, Sardar Mansoor, Boman Shroff and Sarita Devi. The film once again had Nadia playing the avenging female with mask and whip astride a horse dispensing justice and beating up the villains.
Hanuman Patal Vijay is a 1951 Hindi mythological film directed by Homi Wadia for his Basant Pictures banner. Meena Kumari starred in this devotional film with S. N. Tripathi playing Hanuman. Following her career as a child actress, Meena Kumari did heroine roles in mythologies made by Basant Pictures and directed by Homi Wadia. She had an extremely successful career for some years playing goddesses before her big commercial break in Baiju Bawra (1951). S. N. Tripathi, besides acting in the film, also composed the music. His costars were Meena Kumari, Mahipal, Niranjan Sharma, Dalpat and Amarnath.
Dhoomketu is a 1949 action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia. Made under the Basant Pictures banner, the music was composed by A. Karim with lyrics by Rajjan and A. Karim. Raja Sandow an early hero and director of films played a supporting role in this film. The film starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Sona Chatterji, Dalpat, Boman Shroff, Ram Singh and Raja Sandow.
Zimbo is a 1958 Hindi action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Basant Pictures. John Cawas, the earlier hero of most Wadia Movietone adventure films is credited in the title role of the film as associate director, with special effects by Babubhai Mistry. The screenplay was by JBH Wadia with dialogues by Chand Pandit. The music was composed by Chitragupta, with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The film starred Azad, Krishna Kumari, Chitra, Achala Sachdev, Sheikh and Dalpat.
Jungle Ka Jawahar is a 1953 Hindi action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Basant Pictures. The story was written by Boman Shroff and the special effects were by Babubhai Mistry. Having played daredevil roles starting in the 1930s, Fearless Nadia was still playing lead action roles in the 1950s and continued to act till 1968. The film starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Leela Kumari, Shyam Sunder and Shapoor Aga.
Char Dervesh is a 1964 Indian Hindi-language action fantasy film directed by Homi Wadia for Basant Pictures. The film was produced by Wadia Brothers and its music composer was G. S. Kohli. Feroz Khan acted in several "small-budget" costume films such as Homi Wadia's Char Dervesh as hero, before he became popular as second lead and later as hero, producer and director in mainstream cinema. The film was declared a hit. The film starred Feroz Khan, Sayeeda Khan, Naaz, B. M. Vyas, Mukri and Sunder.
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 (1935).
Padma Devi (1917–1983) was a popular Indian Bengali Hindi/Hindustani Film Actress and playback singer of Indian cinema, in the silent era and the early talkies. Starting her career with the main role in Sea Goddess (1931), directed by Dhirubhai Desai and produced by Saroj Film Company, Padma went on to act in over one hundred films in her career.
References
- ↑ "Khiladi". Gomolo.com. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ "Khiladi 1968". Lyricsbogie.com. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ Jain, Madhu. "Legally Blonde". verveonline.com. Verve Magazine. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ Gulazāra; Govind Nihalani; Saibal Chatterjee (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. Popular Prakashan. pp. 619–. ISBN 978-81-7991-066-5 . Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ "Khiladi 1968". Alan Goble. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ Dorothee Wenner; Rebecca Morrison (1 March 2005). Fearless Nadia: the true story of Bollywood's original stunt queen. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-303270-0 . Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ India Today International. Living Media International Limited. 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ↑ "Khiladi 1968". MySwar. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
