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Dara Singh
 Dara
Singh was a well-known wrestler before he joined Hindi films. He was
known as 'Rustom-E-Hind' which also became one of his movies later on.
But with his first film 'King Kong' in 1962, Dara Singh shot to fame
and had a strong screen presence. He became one of the most sought
after wrestlers of Bollywood in the years to come.
His debut film was highly appreciated and there came many movies where
he played roles of similar type. Some of his movies like 'Rustom-E-Rome'
(1963), 'Rustom-E-Baghdad' (1962) and 'Rustom-E-Hind' (1964) did much
to his image but due to his limitations, he had to restrict himself to
B-grade films.
There were many other films of his like 'Aaya Toofan', 'Sher-E-Watan',
'Shankar Khan' and 'Balraj Shri Krishna' which were thronged by the
North Indian wrestlers. Dara Singh did many character roles also and
the one role he is highly remembered for was from Manmohan Desai
directed 'Mard'.
This film revolved around Amitabh Bachchan and anyone who could
convincingly play his father was Dara Singh. He was able to live up to
the expectations bestowed on him and came up with many laurels for
this role of his. But Dara Singh shot to more fame through his role of
'Hanuman' in Ramanand Sagar's popular television serial 'Ramayan'.
Though quite old, Dara Singh played the role to perfection and people
started recognising him as the actual 'Hanuman'. He then started doing
more of serials and gained popularity.
He turned producer with 'Nanak Dukhiya Sab Sansar' and produced
several Punjabi films. Though Singh got respectability as an actor
with special appearances in RK Films' 'Dharam Karam' and 'Mera Naam
Joker', it was Manmohan Desai who paid him an unusual compliment when
he signed Dara Singh for 'Mard'. Said Desai, "Amitabh is playing
the title role of Mard. I was wondering who could be his father if
Amitabh plays Mard! Mard ka baap to Dara Singh hi ho sakta hai. This
is why I took Dara Singh in the film." Singh, the strong man on
the screen, is a mild mannered man in real life. These days he is
doing TV serials .
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