Dara Singh (English: Dara Singh, born: 19 November, 1928, Amritsar; died: 12 July, 2012, Mumbai) was a world famous freestyle wrestler and famous actor of his time. Dara Singh was also a member of Rajya Sabha from 2003-2009. He has made a name for himself in the world of sports and entertainment alike and has proved his mettle for his work. This was the reason why he was known as both an actor and a wrestler. He won the Commonwealth World Championship in 1959 by defeating former world champion George Guardiyanka. Later he became the world champion of freestyle wrestling by defeating America’s world champion Lou Thesz.
The journey from the Akhara to the film world was quite challenging for Dara Singh. Dara Singh’s full name, who was crazy about wrestling since childhood, was ‘Dara Singh Randhawa’. However, among his fans he was known as Dara Singh. Dara Singh, son of ‘Surat Singh Randhawa’ and ‘Balwant Kaur’, was born on 19 November 1928 in a Jat-Sikh family of Dharamuchak (Dharmuchakka or Dharmuchak or Dharamchuk) village of Amritsar, Punjab. At that time the country was under British rule. Dara Singh’s father lived outside. Grandfather wanted that since he was older, Dara should not go to school and work in the fields and the younger brother should study. The fight continued for a long time regarding this matter.
Dara Singh was fond of wrestling since childhood. In his teenage years, Dara Singh used to eat 100 almonds with milk and butter every day and spend many hours in exercise. Dara Singh’s family got him married at an early age. As a result, he became the father of a child at the tender age of just 17, but when he earned name in the world of wrestling, he married Surjeet Kaur for the second time as per his choice. Dara Singh has three daughters and three sons in his family.
Career in wrestling: Dara Singh was a world famous freestyle wrestler of his time. In the sixties, his free style wrestling dominated all over India. Dara Singh was fond of wrestling since childhood. He spent his childhood working on his farm, after which he was inspired to take up wrestling after seeing his tall and strong physique. Dara Singh started wrestling from his home. Dara Singh and his younger brother Sardara Singh started wrestling together and gradually started making their village famous by winning wrestling matches in the villages and cities and started trying to create their own identity in India. Dara Singh learned wrestling in the Akhara. During that period, Dara Singh used to get invitations to wrestle on behalf of the kings and emperors. He also wrestled in markets and fairs and defeated many wrestlers.
Dara Singh reached Singapore in 1947 during India’s independence. While there, he won the Malaysian Wrestling Championship in Kuala Lumpur by defeating Malaysian champion Trilok Singh in ‘Indian style’ wrestling. After that his victorious chariot moved towards other countries and after hoisting the flag of success in all the countries as a professional wrestler, he returned to India in 1952. After impressing wrestlers from all over the world (East Asian countries) in freestyle wrestling for about five years, Dara Singh came to India and became the Indian wrestling champion (national champion) in 1954. Dara Singh visited one by one all the countries where freestyle wrestling was fought.
After this he toured the Commonwealth countries and even defeated the world champion King Kong. Aware of Dara Singh’s popularity, world champion George Guardiyanka of Canada and John D’Silva of New Zealand gave him an open challenge in the 1959 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Kolkata. The result remained the same. Here also Dara Singh won the world championship title by defeating both the wrestlers. After the Commonwealth Championship, Dara Singh’s mission was to show his strength to the whole world. This wrestler from India defeated wrestlers from almost every country in the world. Ultimately, he became the world champion of freestyle wrestling by defeating America’s world champion Lou Thesz on May 29, 1968. In this journey of becoming the king of wrestling, Dara Singh ruined the pride of many wrestlers including Pakistan’s Majid Aqra, Shane Ali and Tariq Ali, Japan’s Rikodojan, European Champion Bill Robinson, England’s Champion Patrock. Dara Singh, who retired from wrestling in 1983, defeated more than 500 wrestlers and the special thing is that Dara Singh defeated most of the wrestlers in their own homes. To salute his wrestling art, Dara Singh was awarded the title of Rustam-e-Punjab in 1966 and Rustam-e-Hind in 1978.
Dara Singh sweated in the arena for almost 36 years and out of the total 500 wrestling matches fought till now, Dara Singh did not lose even one, due to which his name is recorded in the Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Dara Singh’s wrestling fans included India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and many other Prime Ministers. In true sense, Dara Singh was that lion of wrestling, after hearing whose roar, big wrestlers left the arena with their tails down.
Dara Singh has ruled the heart of India for almost 60 years. Today’s generation may not even realize that Dara Singh, who entered the field of acting from the Akhara, is considered the first man of Bollywood. He has been the hero of Tarzan series films. Dara Singh came into films because of his strong physique. Dara Singh’s support proved to be the biggest support in improving the career of film actress Mumtaz. The path to stardom by showing one’s body in Bollywood would not have been possible had Dara Singh not been there. Yes, today in Bollywood, the trend of every superstar showing off his muscles by opening his shirt, started through Dara Singh. At the time when Dara Singh’s wrestling exploits were becoming popular all over the world, Bollywood was so impressed by this 6 feet 2 inches tall Gabru Jatt that wrestler Dara Singh became actor Dara Singh. Dara Singh entered Hindi stunt films with the famous actress of his time, Mumtaz, and became an actor in many films. Dara Singh worked with Mumtaz in 16 films. Not only this, he also became director and producer in many films. Dara Singh produced many Hindi films and played the hero in them.
Dara Singh’s first film ‘Sangdil’ was released in 1952, starring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in the lead roles. In 1955, he appeared as a wrestler in the film ‘Pehli Jhalak’, in which the lead characters were played by Kishore Kumar and Vyjayanti Mala. Dara Singh’s first film as a hero was ‘Jagga Daku’, after which he became famous as the first action hero of Bollywood. Dara Singh’s real identity came from the 1962 film ‘King Kong’. This film took him to the heights of fame. This film was based on wrestling only. After King Kong, he did films like ‘Rustom-e-Rome’, ‘Rustom-e-Baghdad’, ‘Rustom-e-Hind’ etc. All the films were successful. He also had a small but memorable role in the famous film Anand. He has played different characters in many films. ‘Shararat’ in the year 2002, ‘Farz’ in 2001, ‘Ho Na Ho’ in 2000, ‘Zulmi’ in 1999, ‘Dillagi’ in 1999 and many other such films.
In his 60 year long film career, Dara Singh worked in more than 100 films, out of which maximum 16 films were with actress Mumtaz. Dara Singh was paired with Mumtaz in the film ‘Faulad’ in 1963. The magic of the jovial-bubbly Mumtaz and the man Dara Singh remained on the silver screen for almost five years. Dara Singh and Mumtaz wrote ‘Veer Bhimsen’, ‘Hercules’, ‘Andhi Aur Toofan’, ‘Raaka’, ‘Rustam-e-Hind’, ‘Samson’, ‘Sikander-e-Azam’, ‘Tarzan Comes to Delhi’. Worked together in about one and a half dozen films including ‘Tarzan and King Kong’, ‘Boxer’, ‘Jawan Mard’ and ‘Daku Mangal Singh’. Did.
After wrestling, Dara Singh loved films the most. He built ‘Dara Studio’ near Mohali and also made many films. He made his first film in his mother tongue Punjabi, ‘Nanak Dukhiya Sab Sansar’. This devotional film was a huge hit. After this, he also produced films like ‘Dhyani Bhagat’, ‘Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun’ and ‘Bhagat Dhanna Jatt’ etc. Dara Singh produced 8 films in Hindi and Punjabi, directed 8 films and also wrote the stories of 7 films himself. The last memorable film of Dara Singh, who has acted in more than a hundred films, was Imtiaz Ali’s film ‘Jab We Met’ in 2007, in which he played the role of Kareena Kapoor’s grandfather. He wanted to remain associated with films till his last breath, but increasing age and deteriorating health were not supporting him, so Dara Singh said goodbye to light-camera and action in 2011.
Dara Singh is an example of how one character can change someone’s entire identity. The character of Hanuman in the serial Ramayana made him such a household name that now no one even remembers that Dara Singh was the ‘world champion wrestler’ of his time. This is the character which changed the entire identity of wrestler turned actor Dara Singh. In 1986, Dara Singh became so successful in the role of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s serial Ramayana that after this no one ever thought of casting any other artist as Hanuman. Dara Singh was also seen as Hanuman in the second mythological serial Mahabharata after Ramayana serial. In 1989, when the mythological story of ‘Luv Kush’ was brought on the small screen, Dara Singh played the role of Hanuman in it too. Hanuman also became Dara Singh in the 1997 film ‘Luv Kush’.
