Wrestler turned actor Dara Singh passed away on Thursday morning after suffering a stroke. He had been undergoing dialysis at a Mumbai hospital during the past week. He was 84.
Born on November 19, 1928, Dara Singh is a Jat Sikh from Dharmoochuk village in Amritsar, Punjab.
Owning to his height and physique, he was encouraged to become a wrestler during his youth.
Barely 18, Singh travelled to Singapore where he took on different jobs even as he practised wrestling.
Eventually, he quit his job to establish himself as a professional wrestler.
He became the Indian Wrestling Champion in 1954 and won the Commonwealth championship in 1959.
He was pronounced the World Champion in 1968 before he took retirement from active wrestling in 1983.
He transformed his wrestling fame and went on to produce and direct some films.
Dara Singh introduced actress Mumtaz to Bollywood and the two have featured together in about 16 Hindi films.
1962's 'King Kong' introduced Singh as an actor to reckon with. It was followed by 'Faulad' in 1963 and then 'Hercules' in 1964.
The wrestler turned actor has been a part of over 100 films and numerous TV series.
He played the the character of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar's television series Ramayan.
He was even nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2003.
He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in his later career. He was last seen in Imtiaz Ali's 'Jab We Met' in 2007 where he played the tough grandfather.
