Dara Singh

Indian professional wrestler and actor (1928-2012)

達拉·辛格 · ダラ・シン · 다라 싱

Born

19 November 1928, Punjab

Died

12 July 2012, Mumbai

Citizenship

India, British Raj, Dominion of India

Sport

professional wrestling

Occupation

politician, film director, film producer, professional wrestler, film actor

Dara Singh (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, and politician. Widely regarded as one of India's greatest wrestlers, Singh earned international recognition during the 1950s and 1960s for his victories in both Indian and world wrestling circuits. In 1968, Singh became world champion by defeating Lou Thesz.

Transitioning to cinema, Singh appeared in over 100 Hindi and Punjabi films, often portraying strong, heroic and religious characters, and is best remembered for his iconic role as Hanuman in the film Bajrangbali (1976) and in the television series Ramayan (1987–1988). He was the first sportsperson to be nominated as Member of the Rajya Sabha from 2003 to 2009, he was also awarded the Padma Shri in 1996. Singh was inducted into the Legacy wing of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

Awards and honours

• WWE Hall of Fame
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Films

External links

• Wikipedia
• IMDb
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q165816 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.