Hunterwali comes to Melbourne

From the Age Report on Cinema India exhibition in Melbourne:

"Cast first in a small role, Nadia so impressed that she was made the lead in the Wadias' next film, Hunterwali, in which she performed swashbuckling stunts like a female Douglas Fairbanks, J. B. H's idol. It became the biggest-grossing Indian film of the time and earned Nadia her "fearless" moniker.

As her profile grew, so, too, did the scope of her battles. In The Diamond Queen, Nadia defeats the protagonists who try to subvert an education program in order to continue using child labour in the diamond mine. "Nadia finishes beating the guys into submission and then gives them a lecture on women's rights, feminism and literacy programs — straight after beating them up, but it's pure slapstick," says Benson. "J. B. H's films still have this comic element, which makes them popular, but he was always feeding in this political message. I think that's what makes Nadia more interesting than historians have given her credit for, because of that tone in the movies." "