Dara Singh

Dara Singh

Dara Singh Randhawa (born November 19, 1928) is a Punjabi wrestler and film actor from Amritsar, Punjab (India) in India.

He was a well-known wrestler before he started acting in Hindi films in 1962.

From an Indian Wrestling Champion to the World Championship, Dara Singh has competed against some of the greatest names in wrestling history including Lou Thesz. He has defeated some of the former world champion wrestlers including the great Stanislaus Zbyszko.

Dara Singh is from India's state of Punjab. Due to his physique he was encouraged to study Pehlwani, an Indian style of wrestling, in the milked sand wrestling pits of India called akhara. Dara Singh was a favourite in wrestling tournaments in India. In addition to this he wrestled on invitation of the kings of various Indian princely states and wrestled frequently in haats and melas (fairs and carnivals). He also successfully competed against some of the greatest names in wrestling history including Stanislaus Zbyszko, and professional wrestlers in the United States.

Upon his return to India he gained unprecedented popularity by having bouts of wrestling across the country in the 1940s and 50s. He than translated this to celluloid fame by making a large number of B grade films which had him in the lead. One of his noticeable finds was the actress Mumtaz. He then went on to 1980s and 90s T.V fame when he played the role of Hanuman in the television adaptation of the epic Ramayana. The series is amongst the most widely viewed in history. He has acted in over 100 films. His latest movie is a Punjabi movie Dil Apna Punjabi

In 1996 he was inducted to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall Of Fame