Vindu Dara Singh: “First My Father Then I Became The Face Of Hanuman”

The  legendary Dara Singh’s  son Vindu Dara Singh tells  an interesting story on how his father  became the  screen-face of Lord Hanuman.

“It didn’t start with  Ramanand Sagar’s  Ramayan. That came  much later. In 1976  the very reputed  director Chandrakant made a feature film  called Bajrang Bali where he  cast  my father as Hanuman. The  film  was  a blockbuster, something as  big as  Jai Santoshi Maa, and my father became  a  household name  as  Pavan Putra Hanuman.”

11 years later  Ramayan  happened. “Papaji, as we all called  the kind Ramanand Sagarji decided to make the Ramayan.  Though Dipika Chikhalia  was the  first  choice  for Sita, Arun Govil was not the original  choice  for  Rama.  Papaji had someone else in mind for Rama. Arun Govilji was supposed  to play some other role.  But he insisted he  would play Rama. Papaji had a dream one  night where  he saw  my father  as Hanuman. Dad was summoned  and offered the role . Of course he had  no choice. No one  said no to Papaji.  And of course Dad  was  still fit enough to   play Hanuman. But he was  60 and after years of wrestling his knees and shoulders had begun to trouble him. But Papaji insisted and my father had no choice  but to play  Hanuman.”

Ramayan made  Dara Singh the face of Hanuman.

Recalls  Vindu,  “It was my father until he was alive  and then it was me. I was  first offered  the role  of  Hanuman in  the serial  Jai Veer Hanuman in  in 1996. I  was  hesitant  about slipping into a  role patented  by  my father.  But  I took up the challenge. Now  I  am invited to the Rama Leela  in  Delhi every year to play Hanuman . My most memorable  moment  on  stage as  Hanuman  was  when  the PM Modiji  put  a tikka on my head  before my performance My  best stint as Hanuman was in a Telugu film directed   by the  legendary Bapu.”

More than anything, Vindu  is  happy  for the Sagars that Ramayan  worked so well. “I remember  as a child I’d go to visit  one of Papaji(Ramanand Sagar)’s grandchildren Jyoti. They had fallen on  bad days after  some of their feature  film like Romance and  Bhagavat flopped. Ramayan  put the Sagars  back on the map. Everyone connected with the serial became successful . Ramayan was blessed.My father later played  Hanuman just one more  time in B R  Chopra’s  Mahabharat. But very briefly.”