2409:4050:E01:9F80:48BC:477B:E566:2D8D at 13:52, 3 January 2022

2022-01-03T13:52:15Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person
|name= Homi Wadia
|image=Homi Wadia.jpg
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1911|5|22}}
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2004|12|10|1911|5|22}}
|relatives = [[J. B. H. Wadia]], [[Wadia family]]
|spouse = {{marriage|[[Fearless Nadia]]|1961|1996|reason=her death}}
|occupation = director
|years_active = 1935-1981
}}
'''Homi Wadia''' (22 May 1911 – 10 December 2004)<ref>{{cite web | title = Remembrance: Film Personalities who passed in 2004|work=Screen magazine| url = http://www.zulm.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7414&sid=8a90276930267a7c3898d9a781c0b673|date= 28 January 2005 | access-date = 2014-09-18 }}</ref> was an Indian film director and producer in [[Bollywood]] (Hindi cinema). He was the co-founder of [[Wadia Movietone]] productions, established in 1933 and later after the closure of Wadiatone, he founded Basant Pictures in 1942. In a career spanning five decades, he directed over 40 films, including ''[[Hunterwali]]'' (1935), ''[[Miss Frontier Mail]]'' (1936), ''[[Diamond Queen (1940 film)|Diamond Queen]]'' (1940) and fantasy film ''[[Hatim Tai (1956 film)|Hatim Tai]]'' (1956). He was also a founding member of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India, established in 1954.<ref name=film>{{cite web | title = Founders: Homi Wadia | work = The Film & Television Producers Guild of India | url = http://www.filmtvguildindia.org/founders.html#homiwadia | access-date = 2014-09-18 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150330062416/http://www.filmtvguildindia.org/founders.html#homiwadia | archive-date = 30 March 2015 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Homi Wadia was married to actress and stunt woman [[Fearless Nadia]]. Homi was the younger brother of [[JBH Wadia]], who was himself a movie director.

==Early life and background==
Wadia was from a [[Parsi]] family, and his ancestors came from shipbuilding family, [[Wadia family]] ([[Wadia Group]]) originally from [[Surat]] in Gujarat state of western India, which also built British-wartime ship [[HMS Trincomalee]] (1817). His ancestors moved to Bombay in the 18th century.<ref name=toi>{{cite web | title = Surat's Wadias created Fearless Nadia | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Surats-Wadias-created-Fearless-Nadia/articleshow/6668162.cms?referral=PM# |date=2 October 2010| access-date = 2014-09-18 | work = The Times of India }}</ref> After completing his schooling, at age 16, he joined college for a day, but decided instead to join films, and started assisting his elder brother, director [[JBH Wadia]].<ref name=mid>{{cite web |title=Happy Birthday Homi| url = http://archive.mid-day.com/entertainment/2001/may/10803.htm |work=MiD DAY|date= 2001-05-22| access-date = 2014-09-18 }}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Nadia-hunterwali-1935.jpg|150px|thumb|Poster of ''[[Hunterwali]]'' (1935) his most famous film, featuring Fearless Nadia.]]

Homi Wadia had a film career spanning 5 decades where he started as a cinematographer in ''Lal-e-Yaman'' (1933), the year he co-established Wadia Movietone with his elder brother JBH Wadia, film distributor Manchersha B. Billimoria, and brothers Burjor and Nadirsha Tata. However Tata brothers left the partnership within three years, the company continued production of film, documentaries and newsreels from its studios by Lowjee Castle, Mumbai, Wadia family mansion of his great grandfather [[Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia]], a noted shipbuilder, who founded the [[Wadia Group]] in 1736. The company even had its logo as a ship, honouring their family legacy. The last film made by the company was ''[[Raj Nartaki]]'' (1941) under the direction of Madhu Bose, thereafter [[V. Shantaram]] bought the studio in 1942 and established [[Rajkamal Kalamandir]] in the premises. Homi Wadia, who worked as a director in the company, went on to established Basant Pictures in the same year, though initially as film production house. Subsequently, he established a film studio under the same banner in 1947, which functioned till 1981.<ref name="RajadhyakshaWillemen2014">{{cite book|author1=Ashish Rajadhyaksha|author2=Paul Willemen|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA239|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-94318-9|pages=239–}}</ref>
Eventually he progressed as a movie director, producer and also a drama actor and founded Basant Pictures (Basant Studios) Homi is particularly famous for his movies along with Nadia namely ''Hunterwali'', ''Miss Frontier Mail'' and ''Hatim Tai''.<ref name=film/>

In 1981, he got into a labour dispute with union leader [[Datta Samant]], unable to take on the dispute, he decided to quit filmmaking and closed down Basant Studios. He continued to live in Mumbai after his retirement. Even till late in his life, he remained active, and even after his wife Nadia died in 1996, he regularly visited Basant theatre in [[Chembur]].<ref name=mid/> He died at the age of 93, in Mumbai in 2004.<ref name=film/>

==Personal life==
Homi Wadia married actress [[Fearless Nadia|Nadia]] in 1961.<ref>{{cite news|title=International focus on 'Fearless Nadia' |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200803160923.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125094708/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200803160923.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 January 2013 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=16 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>[http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/persons/me-wadia.html Mary Evans Wadia, aka Fearless Nadia] TIFR.</ref>

==Filmography==
*''[[Hunterwali]]'' (1935)
*''[[Hindi Kesari (film)|Hind Kesari]]'' (1935)
*''[[Miss Frontier Mail]]'' (1936)
*''[[Toofani Tarzan]]'' (1937)
*''[[Lutaru Lalna]]'' (1938)
*''[[Vanaraja Karzan]]'' (1938)
*''[[Punjab Mail (film)|Punjab Mail]]'' (1939)
*''[[Diamond Queen (1940 film)|Diamond Queen]]'' (1940)
*''[[Bambaiwali]]'' (1941)
*''[[Jungle Princess]]'' (1942)
*[[Ekta (film)|Ekta]] (1942)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.culturopedia.in/Cinema/regional_cinema.html|title=Regional Cinema of India - Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu Films|website=Culturopedia.in}}</ref>
*''[[Bachpan (1945 film)|Bachpan]]'' (1945)
*''[[Flying Prince]]'' (1946)
*''[[Amar Raj]]'' (1946)
*''[[Shri Ram Bhakta Hanuman]]'' (1948)
*''[[11 O'Clock]]'' (1948)
*''[[Balam (1949 film)|Balam]]'' (1949)
*''[[Dhoomketu (1949 film)|Dhoomketu]]'' (1949)
*''[[Shri Ganesh Mahima]]'' (1950)
*''[[Hanuman Patal Vijay]]'' (1951)
*''[[Aladdin Aur Jadui Chirag]]'' (1952)
*''[[Jungle Ka Jawahar]]'' (1953)
*''[[Alibaba and 40 Thieves (1954 film)|Alibaba and 40 Thieves]]'' (1954)
*''[[Hatim Tai (1956 film)|Hatim Tai]]'' (1956)
*''[[Zimbo (film)|Zimbo]]'' (1958)
*''[[Zabak]]'' (1961)
*''[[Char Dervesh]]'' (1964)
*''[[Alibaba and 40 Thieves (1966 film)|Alibaba and 40 Thieves]]'' (1966)
*''[[Khiladi (1968 film)|Khiladi]]'' (1968)
*''[[Shri Krishna Leela]]'' (1971)
*''[[Toofan Aur Bijlee]]'' (1975)
*''[[Adventures of Aladdin]]'' (1978)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0905561}}
{{Homi Wadia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadia, Homi}}
[[Category:Film directors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Hindi-language film directors]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:People from Surat]]
[[Category:Film producers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Hindi film producers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian film directors]]
[[Category:Wadia family]]

Homi Wadia - Revision history

2409:4050:E01:9F80:48BC:477B:E566:2D8D at 13:52, 3 January 2022