People

Dara Singh:
Some Sweet Memories

BALDEV SINGH GREWAL [Translated from Punjabi by GURMEET KAUR]

 

 

 

It was the nineteen-seventies. We were coming out of “Naaz Cinema” after the premiere of Dara Singh’s film “Savaa Laakh Se Ek Larraa-oo(n)”.

A child’s voice rang above the din – “Daadi, Please get me a kirpan, I too want to fight the Mughals”.

The film had left no one untouched. Everyone was in deep thought as they left the theater. The little child’s words were a testimony to the impact of the film.

An honest dedication to Sikh values and legacy, this film is still etched in my psyche. I truly believe that if something of this sort is achieved at Hollywood standards, Sikhs will be revered in every corner of the world.

But this film of Dara Singh was not even allowed to play in Punjab. The then Chief Minister of Punjab, Giani Zail Singh, found a few excuses and put an immediate stop to the screenings throughout the state.

Dara Singh fought back with all his might.

I had known Dara Singh for a while by then. My friend Harbakhsh Singh used to organize his wrestling matches. Hence we were introduced and became well acquainted.

During his fight with the government to screen his film, our acquaintance turned into friendship. Back then, I used to be the magazine editor for the “Ajit” newspaper. I gave heavy coverage to Dara Singh’s legitimate demand for the right to screen the film.

Zail Singh was afraid that due to this film, the Sikh spirit will rise and Akalis would win favor among the masses of Punjab as a Sikh political party. Being a Congress party leader, he did not want this to happen.

He found exceptions with some scenes. Dara Singh complied and made edits as recommended. For instance, he was asked to change the word “jathedar” to “Sardar ji”. It required the voice-overs to be re-dubbed. It was done. But Zail Singh was not satisfied.

Dara Singh told me that one of the government's demands was to change the blue turbans to white. (Blue turbans was the  hallmark of the Akalis and the white ones of the Congress Party along the lines of the white topi caps worn by the early Congress Party leaders).

In those days, that meant a re-shoot of the entire film.

It was not do-able.He had to surrender.

The man undefeated in wrestling for decades could not win this battle. The film meant to glorify the heritage of Sikhs was killed ...  in the land of Sikhs, at the hands of a Sikh.

Such principles and tactics of the Congress Party to keep the Akalis repressed gave birth to a great agitation in the eighties and Giani Zail Singh was responsiblefor it in many ways.

The film couldn’t, but my friendship with Dara Singh did blossom.

Later, the city authorities started giving him problems over holding his wrestling matches. His newspaper connection came handy and I became his man to deal with the city staff in Jallandhar.

His personality was such that in his presence one felt like being next to a man of God. Zail Singh caused him endless loss of money and time and stripped him of the opportunity to see his passion come to fruition, but Dara Singh neither became angry, nor said unkind words.

It was his dignified persona that put the Chief Minister to ultimate shame. Subsequently, the latter tried to make up by allotting a piece of land to the “Dara Studios” in Mohali during his tenure.

Dara Singh may have lost that battle but in the war of life, he emerged an ultimate winner.

A son of a poor farmer who owned no more than two acres of land (two ghumaas), one that could not afford schooling in order to help feed his family at a young age, became the prince of the wrestling world later in life.

Instead of accepting the circumstances, he always strived to change them for the better. Even as a child, he loved to break records: his first one being the harvesting of two acres of wheat single handedly. That was one of many of his records that could not be broken by anyone to date.

Wrestling in the village arena without any modern facilities, he rose to such heights that he defeated many free-style world champions and remained at the top until he retired.

His physical might and beauty brought him to action films (know as stunt films back then in India). In the fifties and sixties, when the film industry was going through difficult times, Dara Singh proved to be God-sent for the low budget production houses.

Whatever he touched, he strived to excel in it, and he reached the top.  All ventures except one. To raise the standards of Punjabi film industry his dedicated and honest efforts were given no recognition and fruition in  Punjab. That fact bothered me much more than it did him.

After being a part of the “Ajit” newspaper for some time, we parted ways. Of those who grieved, Dara Singh was one. He tried for me to have a post in the government where I could influence some positive change but I did not want to be pulled down into the narrow politics of times, something I had just barely escaped.

Those were the days that my friend Harbakhsh Singh and I had decided to move to the U.S.A.

New challenges and demands of our new lives broke so many ties with home – some I had no regrets of, but some good ones too were clipped by the force of time.

The other day, when I heard the news of Dara Singh's death, my heart was heavy,  not  of the fact that he is gone, but that I let myself be distant from such a wonderful human being and a friend. As I sit down, writing about him, many memories come alive as vividly as it was only yesterday, each moment spent with him becoming a tear in my eyes.

But for such lives, one must not shed tears, one must only feel the presence of God with gratitude. We must cherish each moment. I am fortunate to have many good moments in my treasury.

Dara Singh was not a worldly being; he was a delight from God. He enraptured many during his 84 years on this earth.

 

[The author, Baldev Singh, is editor-in-chief of Sher-e-Panjab.]

August 1, 2012

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