10 Facts You Need To Know About Fearless Nadia

Mary Ann Evans, popularly known as ‘Fearless Nadia’ ,was one of the most successful actresses in the Indian cinemas. She was known for her stunts and heroic roles that she played. She changed the definition of  women roles in the Indian cinema. She was an Indian actress and a talented stunt woman who use to perform all her dangerous stunts herself and soon she became very popular among the people. She worked in a lot of films around 30 during 1930’s -40’s. Some of her best films were Toofan Queen, Fighting Queen, Hunterwali,etc.  Her legacy was lost in the span of time but in 1993, her grandnephew made a documentary on her which made people think of her again and it won many Filmfare Awards. Now let’s talk about 10 facts about this amazing women.

1- Fearless Nadia was born in the year 1908 in Perth in Australia. His father was a British officer and her mother was a Greek belly dancer. She came to Mumbai in 1913 with her parents after her father’s regiment was stationed there.

2-  She learnt horse riding and gymnastic in her early years and joined an European dancing troupe where she used to perform at various places across the country.

3- A fortune teller advised her to have a name that start with the letter ‘N’. So she changed her name from Mary to Nadia.

4- Eruch Kanga introduced her to the producers and founders of Wadia Movietone. Jamshed Wadia hired her and then she worked with them for a long time.

5- She was casted by the Wadia brothers for the first time in the film Desh Deepak where she played the role of a slave girl.

6- She received a great response which gave her her first film, ‘Hunterwali’. Her stunts won the heart of the audience and her stunts became more and more  dangerous as her acting career progressed.

7- Once there was a time when she was struggling with alcoholism otherwise, she lead  a very successful life. She did around 30 movies, the last being the ‘Khiladi’.

8- She got married to Homi Wadia in 1961 after the death of her mother who was against her marrying to a non Parsi man. She also gave birth to a son in 1926 who was name ‘Robert Jones’. The name of the father of her son was not disclosed initially  and he was introduce as her cousin brother. Later Homi Wadia adapted her son and they disclosed their relationship.

9.   An article of Newsx.com claims that the character played by Shahid Kapoor in Rangoon was inspired by the first love of Nadia’s life. Her biography tells that she fall in love with an officer when she was a teenager.

10. At the age of eighty-eight in Mumbai,’ Fearless Nadia‘ departed from this world in 1996. She was a great film star and her works made people to compare her with those of Hollywood stunt woman actresses. She was one of the legends of Indian Bollywood Industry.