As a close associate of the legendary wrestler Dara Singh, the author shares inside story of the life and times of the sportsperson, Bollywood actor, producer and Rajya Sabha member. The author, a former IAS officer and bureaucrat provides insights into his personal life and how Dara Singh was a Punjabi at heart. Capt Narinder Singh hopes that the immense undiluted contribution of this illustrious son of soil of Punjab will be emulated by budding sportsperson.

The name “Dara Singh” sent ripples in the body of his opponents before encountering the ring. Hailing from the tiny village of Dharmu Chak in Amritsar, this humble and polite gentleman rose to become an international freestyle wrestler from his humble farming background and subsequently to be a renowned movie actor and producer in far off Mumbai.

The Word DARA means a king in Persian. So the name Dara Singh implies a leonine ruler which suited the renowned wrestler-cum-cine-cum-television artist as if it was tailor-made for him. Dara Singh was a dreaded name in the arena of freestyle wrestling in the world, for he rose to achieve the title of World Champion after flooring some of the most formidable wrestlers of his time.

Dara Singh Randhawa was popularly known and famous as Dara Singh. He had a herculean figure, standing 6 feet 3 inches tall with muscles and built of a legendary hero. He was easily recognisable from a distance and his personality made him an endearing person.

Farmer Surta Singh’s son Dara Singh was born on 19 November 1928 at Dharmu Chak village in the Baba Bakala Tehsil of district Amritsar in the Punjab. As they say in chaste Punjabi, this part of the earth and its environment is blessed with producing strong and sturdy individuals. Tiger Joginder Singh and Dara Singh Dulchipur belonged to Amritsar. Kartar Singh an IPS officer and world veteran greco-roman heavyweight champion for the last 12 years, also hails from Amritsar. It may be mentioned that his namesake Dara Singh Dulchipur, now in Tarn Taran district, also stood tall at 6 feet 6 inches. He too earned a name as a wrestler but could not occupy the same position and status as Dara Singh Randhawa.

While Dara was a teenager, he left for Singapore to stay with his uncle. This is the place where he watched and observed martial arts of freestyle wrestling and passionately dreamt of becoming a strong grappler.

Once, in a rather solemn and dignified tone Dara Singh told me that he never wanted to get his hair clipped, but had to bow to the stern demands of his profession. Having cut his hair, he remained deprived of any honour by a religious body like the SGPC. His father Surta Singh supported a flowing beard and tied the turban. Dara Singh ritually tied the turban at every opportunity possible, in deep reverence to his faith.

In his wrestling span, Dara Singh supported and assisted his compatriots like Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu (Rustam-e-Punjab) and Mohinder Piddi. He also boosted his nephew Baljit into wrestling. However he only adopted Kartar Singh -an Arjuna award awardee as his disciple, who had offered the traditional Pagri (turban of respect and allegiance to the teacher) and had sought his blessings. In the early eighties, he practiced wrestling in Mumbai under the tutelage of Dara Singh.

Dara Singh’s sons, Amrik Randhawa and Vindu Dara Singh did attempt to emulate their illustrious father and tried their hand at wrestling but quickly abandoned it. They are well settled and live in Mumbai.

For one year Joginder Singh Sheron coached him, but he soon learnt all that he could teach. To his good luck Dara Singh came across the strong and famous wrestler of that era Harnam Singh, who had even defeated Achhar Singh, considered as a man-mountain. Ultimately, Dara Singh adopted Harnam Singh as his guide, mentor and preceptor whom he admired a lot. He even valued his Guru’s (teacher’s) son Ajit Singh in high esteem who was crowned as Hind-ki-Shaan (Pride of India) by former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

In his face-to-face talk he told me that this game of freestyle wrestling was unknown till 1951. At 19, he fought Indian style in Akharas (rural rings for wrestling practice and matches) and made his debut in freestyle wrestling in 1949. During the full span of his career, he fought more than 365 bouts and remained undefeated.

He was the sole champion who remained the king of freestyle wrestling for more than a quarter of a century. Dara Singh fought against King Kong, Bill Robinson, Bill Verna, George Gordienko, Caswell Matin, Al Rick Dosan, Sohain Baba and many others and won numerous laurels. He had the first taste of World championship in London on 11 December, 1957.

“In a solemn and dignified tone Dara Singh told me that he that he never wanted to get his hair clipped, but had to bow to the stern demands of his profession.   ”

Talking to me, he recollected that his fight against George Gordain in 1959 was perhaps the toughest fight of his career. With a high-voltage smile, Dara narrated that immediately after his victory he was carried by the jubilant and hilarious Indian crowd, which took out a long procession, played music and performed the Bhangra dance. That was the day of his achievement and he resolved to keep the national flag aloft and has never looked back. Dara Singh again won the World Championship in 1968 and continued to hold this signal honour till 1983, when he finally bade goodbye to his most beloved game before a mammoth crowd in Delhi.

Following the footsteps of his Guru -teacher and mentor -Harnam Singh, he was the second such person to apply the tactic of deadlock. Some time while fighting in Amritsar in 1970-71, he applied deadlock on Flash-Gordon (masked). Within seconds, Flash Garden was found helplessly bound and lying on the mat, moaning and wriggling like a fish at the end of a hook.

“During the full span of his career, Dara Singh fought more than 365 bouts and remained undefeated.  ”

Once, while talking to him I could not resist asking him about his food habits and exercise which comprised 2 chickens, 3-4 kilograms of milk, about 250 grams of pure desi ghee and almonds every day. He told me that he scrupulously avoided any spicy and chilly food. Life was all exercise, food and rest.

He had always defied that bouts were rigged and one could observe a derisive sneer on his face while talking about this. If money was supreme how could he become a world Champion as he had nothing to offer. If compromise and bargains had existed, how could he throw out King-Kong out of the ring who was almost double his weight, confided the wrestler to me.

When Dara Singh was at the peak of his wrestling career in 1961, he was lured by film producer Devi Sharma to join the film industry. Dara Singh could hardly believe it. He knew his likes and dislikes like the palm of his hand. In his wrestling career, he had totally abstained from watching a movie and indulging in any kind of laxity or looseness.

Initially hesitant, he made a  pleasant diversion into the glamorous world of films and bagged one stellar role after another and had a large number of movies to his credit.  With his significant role in the most popular TV serial of our time -the Ramayana as the character “Hanuman”, earned him a respectful place in the hearts and minds of thousands of people. His role in this T.V. serial made a big dent and niche in the minds of viewers and people virtually took him as Hanuman reviving the history. He soon became a household name-a-name synonymous with strength, vigor, agility and being humane.

Interestingly in the initial stage of his film career, female artists were shy and scared of having any role with him, not due to his male chauvinism, but due to his usual strong hold and grip. Ultimately he softened it to the extent that he could break a rose from the stem without scattering the petals.

“Worldwide, two names come to my mind when we speak about Dara Singh’s forays into sports and movies. Like Dara Singh, these two -Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger have had a glorious track record in both sports and movies.  ”

Dara Singh acted in more than a 115 movies. He played lead roles mainly in King Kong, Hercules, Samson, Rustam-e-Rome, Rustam-e-Baghdad, Lootera, Tarzan, Jab We Met and many more. In Karma he virtually conquered the hearts of cinegoers by his patriotic action in not allowing the tricolor to be hit with bullets. He also acted with Bollywood stalwarts like Prithviraj Kapoor.

Mumtaz acted with Dara Singh in 13 films. Dara Singh’s younger brother, Sardara Singh, also a strong wrestler, married Mumtaz’s younger sister.

He gradually committed himself fully to the film industry.  Years ago, he mooted the proposal for a modern film studio to the Chandigarh administration. Dara Singh and this writer made serious attempts to find a place for Filmistan in Punjab and Chandigarh. Dara Studios in Mohali stands testimony to his commitment to the development of the film industry.

Dara Singh was a pillar of strength, energy and power. He was a ferocious killer in the ring, but a humble gentleman outside it. Once I prevailed upon him to be the chief guest of Sutlej Public School, Panchkula, which he gladly accepted. On another occasion, a society intended to organize a function in the revered memory of Dr. M.S. Randhawa a legendary art promoter in Ludhiana in 1989-90. They approached me to find out if Dara Singh would agree to be the chief guest. Dara Singh cancelled his film shoot and agreed to come and paid his own fare too.

Nostalgically he reminisced that the younger generation was whimsically inclined towards the film industry when they could hardly get a place in Bollywood, spoiling the careers of many young boys and girls.

To give a boost to Punjabi culture along with Gurdas Mann, Diljit Kaur, Rama Vij, Vindu and his wife Farah and other reputed artists from Bombay he graced the function Jhanjaran de Bol organized by the Punjab government in November 1997, which was spearheaded by me in my capacity as Director Cultural Affairs.

With the passage of time Dara Singh got engrossed in film making and under his banner of Dara Productions, he produced Dhana Bhagat, Kisan Aur Bhagwan, Rustam (The Champion) and many more films.

Worldwide, two names come to my mind when we speak about Dara Singh’s forays into sports and movies. Like Dara Singh, these two -Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger have had a glorious track record in both sports and movies. Known for his quick reflexes, flying kicks and somersaults, Bruce Lee dominated the world of Karate and that brought him to Hollywood starting with the movie Enter the Dragon.  Arnold Schwarzenegger started his life as a body builder in Austria and upon migration to the United States, joined Hollywood and played exemplary roles as an action actor. Arnold Schwarzenegger rose to become the Governor of California and Dara Singh was nominated to Rajya Sabha -the upper house of the Indian parliament from 2003 to 2009.

Dara Singh excelled in strength, prowess, agility and swiftness. Men like Dara Singh are hardly born in a century. Tiger Ajit Singh hailing from Ludhiana and settled in Canada is a ferocious wrestler whose name was a terror in Japan. It was a privilege to co-host Tiger Ajit Singh and Dara Singh at my residence.  Significantly, turbaned Jinder Mahal in the WWE ring reminds of the glorious period of Dara Singh.

Life’s ironies can be hard-hitting. The wrestler who could pounce upon his opponents like a tiger had to struggle for the last two years of his life in a hospital in Mumbai as his kidneys failed him. His lifetime friend Dharmendra and hundreds of fans prayed for his recovery, but death snatched him from his admirers and relatives on 12 July 2012.

In true tradition, his ashes were submerged at Kiratpur Sahib in the presence of many of his admirers and relatives including Kanwar Sandhu, Kartar Singh Pehalwan and me. His fans and admirers were weeping and recollecting his grand contribution.

To honour him and to serve as an inspiration for the next generation, his family and friends placed a gold colour statue in the centre of a roundabout opposite the Dara Studios in Chandigarh, during his ninety-year birth anniversary celebrations in November 2018.

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Dara Singh was a wrestler, artist and a politician. We do not know when we will get another Dara Singh. It would be in fitness of things for the Sikh community to recognise his work as well as for India to posthumously bestow the Padma Shri award on this exemplary sportsperson, actor and a gentleman par excellence.