Dara Singh (born November 19, 1928) is a Jat Punjabi Indian wrestler and film actor from Amritsar, Punjab, India.[1] He is the current president of All India Jat Mahasabha.
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.He was nominated member of Rajya Sabha by Bhartiya Janata Party during August 2003 - August 2009.
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 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 and professional wrestlers in the United States.
Upon his return to India he gained unprecedented popularity by having wrestling bouts across the country in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, including a very popular series of matches with Lou Thesz in the late '60s. He then translated this to celluloid fame by making a large number of Bollywood films which had him in the lead. One of his notable finds was the actress Mumtaz. He then went on to 1980s and 90s television fame, when he played the role of Hanuman in the television adaptation of the epic Ramayan. The series is amongst the most widely viewed in history. He has acted in over 100 films. His latest Hindi movie is Jab We Met and his latest Punjabi movie is Dil Apna Punjabi. He also worked in some television serial shows, most notable is 'Had Kar Di' which was aired on Zee TV. He has son named Vindu Dara Singh. Singh retired from active wrestling in 1983. In 1996 he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
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