Hunterwali (1935)
Preceded by a legend describing its heroine as a 'Brave Indian girl who sacrificed royal luxuries to the cause of her people and her country', the story opens with a prologue showing Krishnavati and her infant son being thrown out of the house in a thunderstorm by the wicked Prime Minister Ranamal who also killed her brother. 20 years later the now adult son, Jaswant, is hit by a royal motor car and given a bag of gold in compensation. His refusal of the gift attracts the admiration of Princess Madhuri. When the nasty Ranamal, who wants to marry her, imprisons her father the king, she becomes the masked Hunterwali, 'protector of the poor and punisher of evildoers', and performer of stunts like jumping over a moving cartand fighting 20 soldiers at once. She steals Jaswant's prize horse, Punjab, but returns it later. Jaswant chances upon a nude Hunterwali bathing in the river and after a long duel captures her and takes her to Ranamal to claim his reward.
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Reviews
It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Captivating movie !
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.