Dara Singh passes away

Thursday, Jul 12, 2012: Wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh, who was battling for life since the last five days, passed away early this morning.


84-year-old Singh was taken home from hospital by family members last night so that he could be with them in the last moments of his life.


“He passed away at 7.30 AM peacefully,” Dr Ram Narain, COO, Kokilaben Hospital, told PTI.


Singh was brought to the hospital on July 7 after he had suffered a cardiac arrest and since then he was in the ICU.


A wrestling hero to some and a much loved cine artist to others, it was a long and eventful life that triumphed many odds. In his over five-decade long acting journey, he featured in over 140 films, including classics such as “Anand” and “Mera Naam Joker”.



It was a many splendoured life.


There was Dara Singh the wrestler, Dara Singh, the hero of ‘B’ category action films such as “Tarzan Comes to Delhi” and “Samson” in the 1950s and 1960s, Dara Singh, the friendly ‘pehelwan’ in “Anand”, and then Dara Singh who played Hanuman with great effect in the TV blockbusters “Ramayan” and “Mahabharat”.


He was last seen in the Kareena Kapoor-Shahid Kapoor starrer “Jab We Met” as the stern, lovable ‘Daarji’ who ruled over a noisy, close-knit Sikh family. Quite like the real life man, who intimidated people with his 6′ 2″ frame but soon won them over with outgoing nature and warmth.


Born to Balwant Kaur and Surat Singh Randhawa Nov 19, 1928 in a village in Amritsar, Punjab, Dara Singh was encouraged to take up wrestling due to his imposing physique and trained in ‘pehelwani’, an Indian style of wrestling. He became a star wrestler – and not just on Indian turf.


Dara Singh took on international wrestlers like Lou Thesz and Stanislaus Zbyszko, and had over 500 professional fights to his credit – all undefeated.