i saw this movie in berlin a few weeks ago and found it to be a quirky, informative documentary about a british (i think british) woman, "fearless walid" who single- handedly popularized the stunt movie genre at the dawn of the sound era in india.
walid was, i would guess, the first woman action star in the world. the footage from her films is so utterly amazing in its low-brow unpretentiousness and is absolutely hilarious to sophisticated contemporary audiences. in almost every scene showed she is fighting off 5-10 indian men at a time, laughing heartily. what is also really fascinating is the interview footage with the real walid, at the time of the release (1980s?). she comes accross as a simple (even simplistic) "why not" kind of person and is also very funny and endearing. at multiple points in her interviews she often boils down her reasoning for doing some crazy stunt to her "try anything once" mantra. the film seemed to be poking fun at her.
the film fails, as far as i can remember, to really explore one of the obvious and important issues that immediately popped into my thought: the fact of her race and gender. why did indian audiences adore this huge white, superwoman figure?
it was nice to see such a specific documentary though, one that doesnt try to take in too much. the medium of the motion picture is more suited to the scope of this film, i think: a light biography designed to inform us about a very specific period and figure.
sorry this review was kind of rushed and i wish i could do better justice to the film by better fact checking and better writing. anyway, it's highly recommended. watch it with some friends, as it's very funny and thus a good group experience, but with intelligent friends, because you'll also want to discuss it too. oh wait, i just realized you probably wont be able to find it anywhere. if you live in a major city it may play sometime in the next 10 years. so watch out for it!