By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On His Death Anniversary
Born 19 November 1928 at Dharmu Chak village in Amritsar, the 6 foot 2 inch tall , exquisitely built handsome youth Deedar Singh Randhawa ventured to find pastures new in Singapore with spark in his eyes and determination writ large on his face. After initial struggle he got in touch with Harnam Singh a connoisseur in his own right. He was impressed by the handsome and physically well endowed youth and persuaded him to become a wrestler. Under his stewardship Deedar Singh, who later came to be known as Dara Singh, learnt the intricacies of wrestling like-to have strength of a weight lifter, the agility of an acrobat, the endurance of an athlete coupled with a tactical mind to read every move of the opponent & act accordingly. He also made Singh understand that it is a high-intensity sport that requires complex skills , tactical excellence beside concurrent physical fitness to floor the opponent with high ferocity and velocity. It was in this background that a world-class wrestler was carved out who became a name to reckon with in the history of world wrestling in the years that followed.
Dara Singh toured many Asian countries to compete with the then known wrestlers to test his tactical prowess & to enhance his experience .He was bestowed with the title ‘Champion of Malaysia’ in Singapore. In 1954 he defeated the reigning Champion Tiger Joginder Singh to win the title ‘Rustom-e-Hind’. He won the ‘Commonwealth Champion’ title in 1959 defeating his rivals King Kong, John Da Silva & George Gordienko who wrestled under his pseudo name Flash Gordon in Canada. Singh also wrestled with Bill Verna, Firpo Zbyszko, Rikidozan, Danny Lynch and Ski Hi Lee. His flooring of King Kong is still remembered. In 1962 Dara Singh toured Africa to compete with the then Trinidad wrestler Ray Pollon and defeated him in fight at Nairobi in 1962.
Prince Kumali, also famous as Gordon Petrie & Big Brutus ,was Known the world over as a giant from Georgetown, Guyana. He wrestled in Germany, France and Spain often playing a Nigerian complete with leopard skin adornments carrying a spear. Prince Kumali’s greatest success was probably in India, where he was promoted as an African champion and he wrestled in big matches against both Dara Singh and King Kong Czaya. According to legend, he beat Singh in front of 125,000 in Bombay. This could not be ascertained as their was no place to accommodate that much crowd. Singh defeated him in a match played in early 1960s.
Dara’s match against the formidable 201 Kg Australian wrestler King Kong created a massive emotional stir-up in the audience. When he lifted the giant wrestler, double his weight, over the head and threw him out of the ring, to the cheering frenzied crowd. In 1957 Dara Singh toured UK to compete with Lou Thesz, the 22-time American World champion to play a draw. In May 1968, Singh defeated Lou Thesz in India to become the World Champion. Lou Thesz was then 52 & Singh 40.
Dara Singh, a handsome youth as he was made forays into the tinsel world in 1950s with ” Sangdil “( 1952)”. As a solo hero his first popular film was ” King Kong”( 1962) opposite Kumkum. I watched the movie at Capital cinema in Ambala at the age of 11. Singh later worked in many Hindi movies like Samson, Thief of Baghdad, Aaya Toofan, Nasihat, Faulad, Sikndar-e-Azam, Lootera, Karma, Rustom, Mera Naam Joker ,Pratiggya, Elaan- e-Jung ,Dil Apna Punjabi (2006) & ” Jab We Met” ( 2007). He also directed 7 films -“Nanak Dukhiya Sab Sansaar”( 1970), “Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun”( 1976) and “Karan”(1994) to name few. He also worked in many Punjabi films including a Tamil film in 1960. Singh became a household name after playing the character of Hanumaan in Ramanand Sagar’s teleserial ” Ramayan”. He played key roles in many other serials, too.
I met the matinee idol first in 1968 and later at his Dara Villa in 1976 ,1982, 1988, and 1992 during the launch party of film “Karan” & also at Amritsar & Chandigarh in late 1980s. I was also witness to many of his fights at Patiala, Kanpur, Bombay, and Delhi. I rate his fight with Pakistani wrestler Majid Akra or Akram Pehalwan the best which took place at Delhi Stadium in early 1970s. Surprisingly & interestingly there was more fierce fight going on between the police and the crowd outside than inside the Stadium. Majid Akra held the key throughout the bout with his ‘arm twisting’ move until in a sudden move Dara pinned him. The defeated wrestler stood amazed in the ring, thinking where he was mistaken, even after the crowd left the Stadium. It was a close and the best bout witnessed by me. Dara Singh who remained undefeated in over 500 wrestling bouts was inducted by the WWE in its Legacy Wing of the Hall of Fame on the night before Wrestlemania 34 in 2018.
