page_title: Hunterwali
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Hunterwali / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Fearless Nadia in the Hindi film Hunterwali (1935).
context_page_description: 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.
  Hunterwali was the first lead role for Nadia. She performed many stunts in the film which were applauded by the audience. The film, an expensive venture, was a blockbuster. It inspired numerous products, incorporating Hunterwali in their brand names. Because of the movie's success, Nadia became a cult icon and starred in numerous stunt films, becoming Indian cinema's "earliest and most popular stunt actress". A sequel to the film; Hunterwali Ki Beti, was released in 1943, which made the former the first Indian movie ever to have a sequel.
context_section_description: Hunterwali was a Black and White film running for 164 minutes. During the production stage, there was an objection to the film's title. Language pundits objected to the blending of two words; Hunter, an English word denoting  "whip"  and wali, which was a Hindi word made a corrupted hybrid which did not do justice to either language.
  The main character in the film, Hunterwali/Madhuri, is the feisty and blue eyed beauty, Nadia in the disguise of a man. Mary Evans aka Nadia, an Australian entered Indian cinema in 1934 and had acted in two films, Desh Deepak and Noor-e-Yaman, before Hunterwali. Hunterwali was the first lead role of Nadia. Her character for the role had evolved over years with her training in riding, as a dancer, a fitness freak, a circus artist and as a theatre artist during the 1920s and early 1930s, which was accentuated by a svelte heavily built but supple Amazonian athletic figure with blond hair and blue-eyes. All these qualities made her an instant attraction to the Wadia brothers of Wadia Movietone, though initially they were sceptical about a white woman "breaking into a Brown male bastion" of stunt films and acceptance by the conservative audience during the British Raj.
  The producers Wadia Movietone (founded by the brothers JBH Wadia and Homi Wadia) specialised in stunt-based and mythological films at that time. The story line was developed by J.B.H. Wadia to suit Nadia's character. The plot is developed around the historical theme of a brave fearless Indian girl who forgoes her royal luxurious lifestyle to be a people's person. The film was directed by Homi Wadia (Nadia's future husband) who also wrote the screenplay for the film, with Joseph David writing the dialogue. The concept of Hunterwali was inspired by Hollywood films like Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks.
  Inspired by the film serial The Perils of Pauline, Nadia did all her stunts.  In the role of a masked avenging angel, the film pictured Nadia as a swashbuckling princess in disguise. In this disguise, she straddled on her horse around the countryside chasing enemies, wearing her hot pants, "with her big breasts and bare white thighs, and when she was not swinging from chandeliers, kicking or whipping men, she was righting wrong with her fists and imperious scowl."
  The film is embellished with many bhajans by Govind Gopal. One of the popular songs starts with "Hunterwali hai bhali duniya ki leth," which is a glorification of Hunterwali. Master Mohammed, who acted as the king who also provided the music score.
  The Wadias had spent a fortune not only in making the film but also in its publicity campaign. It was premièred in Bombay at the Super Cinema, on Grant Road. It took six months to make with a budget of Rs. 80,000, which was a fortune. There were no takers for releasing the film, in view of adverse comments about the blonde beauty of a heroine, so the partners pooled their resources and launched a huge publicity campaign. As a result of which, there were huge crowds to see the film on its opening night and thereafter it was a runaway success.
caption: Shot from the film.
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