Google Doodle pays tribute to Fearless Nadia on her 110th birth anniversary. Incidentally, tomorrow, the 9th of January, is also her death anniversary.
Attributed as the original stunt queen of Indian cinema, Nadia moved to India at the age of five from Australia. Her birth name was Mary Ann Evans but she later adopted the stage name of Fearless Nadia. She felt this name sounded exotic and in her early days as a dancer in a travelling troupe, an Armenian fortune teller had suggested that she change her name to one beginning with ‘N’.
During her initial growing up years in the North-West Frontier Province, she learned many skills such as horseback riding, hunting, fishing and shooting.
Later, as a stuntwoman and an actress, she was well known for enacting death defying acts on her own and without a body double. She made her mark in the film industry with movies like ‘Desh Deepak’ and ‘Noor-e-Yaman’. Her big break came in 1935 with ‘Hunterwali’ which was one of the earliest female-lead Indian films. After she found success with this movie, she went on to star in a large number of movies performing all her stunts with ease, risking her life many a time.
Later, Nadia married Homi Wadia, a film maker and producer, and was married to him until her death on January 9, 1996.
In recent times, Kangana Ranaut’s character Jaanbaaz Julia from the film Rangoon was inspired by Fearless Nadia. Julia too does her stunts in the film and her stardom rises to great heights just like Nadia.
Fearless Nadia will always be remembered as the original Stunt Queen of India.