Daring Damsel. The Daring Damsel was created by Saqi (Phantom (II)) and appeared in the film Azad Abla (1933). The Daring Damsel is a Costumed Avenger. In India the Damsel’s father is murdered by a corrupt government official, so the Damsel puts on a mask and takes up the sword to avenge her father and defeat tyranny.
Sadly, I don’t have a lot of information about Azad Abla or the Daring Damsel–not many sources in English on Indian genre films of this era. But from what I’ve been able to discover Azad Abla stands as a paradigmatic example of the crossdressing heroine in 1930s Indian genre films, a surprisingly common character type, and one ripe for rediscovery by modern feminist scholars as well as those looking for old, unknown characters to bring back into modern pop culture.