Dara Singh Biography

Dara Singh Randhawa was a man of many talents. He was most famous for his wrestling success worldwide and acting career in the Indian film industry. Born on 19th November 1928, Dara Singh hails from Village Dharmoochak in Amritsar, Punjab. As one of the successful Indian wrestlers, Dara Singh had represented India in the several World Championships. In 1962 he started acting in Hindi films.

He was also nominated as a Rajya Sabha Member by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) from August 2003 to 2009. Dara Singh died on 12th July 2012 at his residence in Mumbai following a cardiac arrest.

His great physique caught the attention of wrestling coaches and very soon young Dara was taken under their guidance. He was encouraged to learn “Pehlwani”, an Indian style of wrestling in sand pits called “Akhara”. Dara Singh emerged as a favorite in wrestling tournaments in India and going ahead he competed against some of the greatest wrestlers in the history professional wrestling worldwide.

His legendary fights include Mazid Akra the Champion of Pakistan, Prince Kumali the Champion of Africa, Bill Robinson the European Champion, the Japanese Great Rikidozan, the Champion of England Patroch, David Taylor, Danny Lynch and many more. He is crowned as the only professional wrestler who has defeated all his rival champions at their home crowd. He won the titles of Rustam-E-Punjab in 1966 and Rustam-E-Hind in 1978 and won the Canadian Open Tag Team Championship along with Yukon Erich. His name is included in the wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of fame.

In 1947, Dara Singh went to Singapore and became the Champion of Malaysia by defeating Tarlok Singh. He toured almost all eastern countries as a wrestler and returned to India and in 1954 he became the Indian Champion. In 1959 he became the Commonwealth Champion and toured all commonwealth countries defeating famous Champions like King Kong, George Gordienko, John Desilva, Zbysko and many more.
On 29 May 1968, Dara Singh defeated Lou Thesz in America and became The World Champion. He again toured countries throughout the world and defended The World Champion Title. In 1983, Dara Singh retired from the wrestling as an undefeated Champion in his Last tournament held at Delhi, India.

His handsome appearance and wonderful physique brought him numerous film offers. In the 1960s & 70s era Dara Singh was renowned as the Action King of Bollywood. He directed, produced and acted in numerous Hindi and Punjabi films. In 1980s & 90s, he went on to television where he played the legendary role of Hanuman in the television version of the Epic Ramayan. He worked in a few other television serials and shows. His last Hindi movie was Jab We Met in 2007. He also owned a prestigious Dara Studio at Mohali, Punjab. The studio is fully operational as a film studio with all equipped facilities. Dara Singh will always be remembered for his kind generous nature and his prestigious wrestling and acting career.