Dara Singh Randhawa (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, director and politician. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha (upper house) of India. He worked as Hindi and Punjabi film producer, director and writer, and he acted in films and television. He is known for his undefeated worldwide streak in wrestling and later being a successful movie star. He got defeated by Brahmdev Misra of Gorakhpur in Calcutta's Dharmatala. His role of Hanuman in the film Bajrangbali (1976) and in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan made him popular. Singh was inducted into the Legacy Category of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018. Early life Singh was born in a Jat Sikh family as Deedar Singh Randhawa to Surat Singh Randawa and Balwant Kaur on 19 November 1928 in the village of Dharmuchak in the Majha area of the Punjab region of India. At the time, it was still under British Raj colonial rule. Career Professional wrestling He came to Singapore in 1947, where he worked in a drum-manufacturing mill and began his wrestling training under Harnam Singh in the Great World Stadium. As an adult he was tall, weighed and had a chest measurement of . Due to his physique, he was encouraged to take up pehlwani, an Indian style of wrestling, in which he trained for several years. After switching to professional wrestling, he competed around the world with opponents such as Bill Verna, Firpo Zbyszko, John Da Silva, Rikidōzan, Danny Lynch and Ski Hi Lee. His flooring of King Kong is still remembered. In 1954 Dara competed in the Rustam-e-Hind (Champion of India) tournament where he won the final by defeating Tiger Joginder Singh and received a silver cup from Maharaja Hari Singh. In 1959, he won the Commonwealth Championship by defeating George Gordienko at Calcutta. On 29 May 1968 in Bombay, his victory over Lou Thesz earned him the World championship. According to Thesz, Singh was "an authentic wrestler, was superbly conditioned" and had no problem losing to the latter. His last tournament, where he announced his retirement, was held in Delhi in June 1983. Films and television Singh left his village for Singapore in 1948. He started his career as an actor in 1952 with Sangdil. He was a stunt film actor for many years