Diamond Queen
About Diamond Queen
Madhurika comes back to Diamond Town after five years in Bombay, in Western clothes, and tells her father she has been training in the city gyms. Kedarnath, left in charge while the prince is away, taxes the town and abuses the women instead of clearing out corruption. He has an older enemy in the dacoit Diler, the only one of his family left after Kedarnath burned their house. Madhurika joins Diler. Together they break Kedarnath's hold. She tells the town that if the nation is to be freed, the women have to be free first.
Cast & crew
More about Diamond Queen
Homi Wadia directed. J. B. H. Wadia wrote it. Wadia Movietone produced the Hindi adventure in 1940. Fearless Nadia, born Mary Ann Evans, plays Madhurika. John Cawas plays Diler. Sayani Atish plays Kedarnath. It is the seventh film in the Wadias' Diamond series. The first was Veer Bharat (1934).
Themes
Background
It was made in 1940, during the Second World War, when raw film stock in India was rationed to two pictures per producer.
Making
Homi Wadia made it at the family company as the seventh Diamond thriller. Nadia plays the woman who comes home from Bombay already trained and sides with the dacoit.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The townspeople have been waiting for Madhurika as the Bambaiwali, the woman from Bombay.
- Kedarnath's brief was to weed out corruption. He becomes the man taxing them.
- Diler's father made him swear revenge before dying in the burned house.
- Nadia's line in the film: "If the nation is to be freed, the women have to be free first.
- The wartime raw-stock ration was two films per producer. The success of this picture let Homi Wadia produce on his own and get stock.
- Fatma Begum plays Faima. Radha Rani, Sardar Mansur, Dalpat, Kunjru, and Boman Shroff are also billed.
Scenes
- Madhurika returns in Western clothes and says she has been working out in Bombay gyms.
- She joins Diler against Kedarnath, who burned Diler's house years before.
Influenced by
- Veer Bharat (1934)
Quotes
If the nation is to be freed, the women have to be free first.
