Dara Singh

Professional wrestling

He came to Singapore in 1947, where he worked in a drum-manufacturing mill and began his wrestling training under Harnam Singh in the Great World Stadium.^[12] As an adult he was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall,^[2] weighed 127 kilograms (280 lb) and had a chest measurement of 53 inches (130 cm). Due to his physique, he was encouraged to take up pehlwani, a traditional Indian style of wrestling, in which he trained for several years. After switching to professional wrestling, he competed around the world with opponents such as Bill Verna, Firpo Zbyszko, John Da Silva, Rikidōzan, Danny Lynch and Ski Hi Lee. His flooring of King Kong is still remembered.^[13] He is credited to have remained undefeated in a professional wrestling bout.^[14]

In 1951, Dara Singh lost a traditional city-duel match in Greco-Roman style against Brahmdev Mishra of Gorakhpur in a stadium located at Dharmatala Maidan Calcutta.^{[15][14][16][17]}

In 1954, Dara competed in the Rustam-e-Hind (Champion of India) tournament where he won the final by defeating Tiger Joginder Singh and received a silver cup from Maharaja Hari Singh.^[18] In 1959, he won the Commonwealth Championship by defeating George Gordienko at Calcutta. On 29 May 1968 in Bombay, his victory over Lou Thesz earned him the World championship.^[19][3] According to Thesz, Singh was "an authentic wrestler, was superbly conditioned" and had no problem losing to the latter.^[20] His last tournament, where he announced his retirement, was held in Delhi in June 1983.^[21]

Films and television

Singh left his village for Singapore in 1948.^[11] He made his first on-screen appearance in a dream sequence from the film Pehli Jhalak (1954) where he was seen doing a wrestling scene with Om Prakash with Begum Para as the referee.^[22] He was a stunt film actor for many years and played his first lead role in Babubhai Mistry's film King Kong (1962).^[23] From around 1963, he partnered often with Mumtaz, with whom he performed in 16 Hindi films. The couple became the highest-paid B-grade actors, with Singh receiving nearly four lakh rupees per film.^[24]

He then went on to do television in the late 1980s, where he played the role of Hanuman in the television adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayan.^[25] He also had roles in numerous films, such as Veer Bheem Sen and Ramayan, and in other television serials. He starred as Bhima in various Mahabharata movies, besides also playing Balram, he also starred as Shiva in various theological movies.

His last Hindi movie was Jab We Met and the last Punjabi movie released before his illness was Dil Apna Punjabi. He acted in National Award-winning film Main Maa Punjab Dee directed by Balwant Singh Dullat. He directed seven Punjabi films including Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun, Nanak Dukhiya Sub Sansar, Dhyanu Bhagat and Rab Dian Rakhan. He also directed two films in Hindi; Bhakti Mein Shakti and Rustom (1982), which were produced and directed under the banner "Dara Film" which he set up in 1970.^[23] Singh acted as himself in the 1985 Malayalam film Mutharamkunnu P.O..

Politics

Singh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 1998.^[27] He became the first sportsperson to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha – the upper house of the Parliament of India. He served in that role between 2003 and 2009. He was also president of the Jat Mahasabha.^[22][28]

Comics

Singh's son Vindu Dara Singh, launched his first comic book The Epic Journey of the Great Dara Singh at Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi in February 2019.^[29]