|
|
|
| |
| Dara Singh was born in Amritsar where his family owned hundreds of acres of land which they tilled, sowed and harvested aplenty. At one time Dara cut down one acre of golden wheat with a sickle in a day which was a record of sorts. |
 |
| Dara Singh followed his chacha and went to Singapore for better prospects. He started off as a night watchman in a military bar and spent the whole day listening to tales about the great Gama Pehalwan. |
|
| Dara Singh was a part of the two wrestling groups in Singapore comprising Indian wrestlers – Happy World and Great World. The first time Dara threw down a Chinese wrestler, he got paid. |
|
| Dara Singh overthrew the notorious European wrestler King Kong to become the Indian champion in 1954. Post this fight, the humiliated King Kong beat a retreat to Singapore. Dara, on the other hand, was a champ on a rampage. He remained undefeated in Europe and lifted the Commonwealth title in Canada in 1959. |
|
| Dara Singh had heard sad tales of retired wrestlers, how one of them was reduced to driving a tonga. He didn’t want a life of penury and took up films as his retirement benefit scheme. He was paid a signing amount of Rs 2000 for his first film and as per his going rate of Rs 1000 per wrestling bout, he demanded Rs 40,000 for a 40-day shoot. After various bounced cheques, eventually his net earning trickled down to Rs 5000. Mahesh Bhatt’s father, Nanabhai directed his debut venture King Kong, a film that was a blockbuster. |
|
| Dara Singh pushed back his film career and usurped the reigning US champ Rufus to be crowned the World Champ. He defended the title for the next two years and passed it on later remaining undefeated |
|
| Dara Singh did 3000 sit-ups and 3000 push-ups every day. The rigorous regimen helped him remain an active wrestler right up to the age of 53 and won him the coveted role of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s famous mythological serial Ramayana when he was well past his prime at 60! |
|
| Of Dara Singh’s five children, only Vindoo followed in his footsteps, his other son Amtik is a businessman in Chandigarh while three of his daughters are domestically settled. One of them incidentally runs a pilot training academy in the US. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
