India's first superhero film was a blockbuster, came before Superman or Batman; it's not Mr India, Krrish, Ajooba, RaOne

 

Superhero films began with the first swashbucklers in British and American cinema in the 1920s, the era of the silent cinema. And while they became mainstream in Hollywood by the 60s with the arrival of Batman and Superman, it took decades for Indian film industries to warm up to the genre. And today while films like Krrish or Enthiran are considered trendsetters in the genre, there is one forgotten Indian superhero film that started the genre decades before even Hollywood caught on to it.

India’s first superhero film released in 1935

In 1935, JBH Wadia, the founder of Wadia Movietone, released the action potboiler Hunterwali. It starred an Australian actress settled in India named Mary Ann Evans. Mary had taken on the screen name Nadia, and was billed in the film as Fearless Nadia. The film, with its extravagant action sequences, and Nadia’s screen presence, was a superhit and attained a silver jubilee. Inspired by the Zorro films from the West, Hunterwali featured Nadia as a princess who moonlighted as a whip-carrying masked vigilante named Hunterwali, who would beat up bad guys much like Phantom and Zorro in those days.

Nadia was born as Mary Ann Evans in Perth in 1908. Her father, a volunteer in British Army, was stationed in India the following year and Nadia moved to India in 1913. Following her father’s death in 1915, she moved to Peshawar where young Mary learnt horseback riding, hunting, gymnastics, and shooting. In the 1920s, she returned to Bombay as a teenager and learnt ballet there. Mary began working as a theatre artiste in her early 20s before trying her hand at a small role in JBH Wadia’s film Desh Deepak. Her minor roles were so well received that Wadia – and his brother Homi – decided to launch her as a leading actress, which they did with Hunterwali.

Other major Indian superhero films

After Hunterwali, a sequel names Hunterwali Ki Beti – again starring Nadia – was released in 1943. But then, the superhero genre came to a halt in India for four decades. It was revived in 1980 with the Telugu film Superman starring NT Rama Rao. The film was an unauthorised remake of the Christopher Reeve Superman, which released in 1978. Satyajit Ray’s Hirak Rajar Deshe followed the same year, while Mr India, Toofan, and Ajooba rounded off the decade for Bollywood. It was only in the 21^st century though, that films like Anniyan, Krrish, and Enthiran gave a boost to the genre in India, before smaller films like Bhavesh Joshi Superhero and Minnal Murali created a sub-genre as well.