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Rimi & Ak- Chori Chori, THE TIMES OF shaye have a Ajay Devgan INDIA capital time in readies to steal Man stitches lips after wife com - Delhi... the show His lips are sealed... and not the mouth. It s nice to have just figuratively. Rudrappa an obedient husband but I Mugalkod, a 32-year-old farm- didn t realise he would go this er in a Karnataka village, actu - far, she says. Mugalkod, who ally stitched his lips together had the stitches removed at after his wife Satyabhama or- hospital, says he was too dered him to stop swearing. drunk to feel the pain. I did it As per reports, Satyabha- to show how much I respect- ma told him to shut up. In an ed her wishes. Now, of cou - inebriated conditi - rse, he ll actually on when the order have a stiff upper was passed, lip for some time! Mugalkod shut up by stitching his lips together. OF INDIA The next morn- ing, his wife found THANK GOD IT S SUNDAY him bleeding from P hotos : SUNIL KATARIA MANOJ KESHARW ANI DARA SINGH: NO HOLDS Fate. As a child, he was forced to tend to cattle when he wanted to study. As a boy, his wonder years were killed by marriage and subsequent divorce. As a teenager, nightmares at home drove him to pursue his dreams in Singapore. As a pahelwan- turned-actor, he was rejected by heroines. But as in the wrestling arena, he won. Because Dara Singh, as he tells APARNA In my poverty-stricken childhood, I grew up on m a the Indian champion and won the Commonwealth title ka doodh:My earliest memories are of the poverty in in 1959. which I grew up after being born to Suraj Singh, a farmer, Film offers came my way: I had done cameos in South and Balwinder Kaur on November 19, 1928 in the village Indian films, but when I was of fered my first Hindi film Ki- of Dharamuchak, Amritsar. When I was three, my moth - ng Kong, I was apprehensive that I would make a fool of er gave birth to a stillborn girl and was asked to breast - myself. But the film s producer, Devi Sharma, was feed me. I constantly pestered her to be fed. Finally , she adamant. I demanded Rs 60,000 for 60 days. Sharma applied a bitter substance to her breasts to wean me wrapped up the schedule in 35 days, making Rs 35,000 away! my first signing amount! I was not allowed to study: W ith farming not Marriage proved second-time lucky: Around then, offering enough money, my father took my parents pressurised me to marry again. Ours was an illiter - up a job at a factory in Singapore. I agreed on the condition that I At nine, family ate, poverty-stricken Ours was an illiterate family and would select my bride. I want - feuds forced me to mar- family; my grandfather wanted me to ed a girl who was not illiter - tend to grazing cattle. But I ate, but not highly-educat - ry a girl five years school was banned wanted to study and sneaked ed either . I found Surjeet away to school, where my teacher, Bansha Ram, made me the Kaur and we got engaged a week after I signed King Kong. monitor of the class. When my grandfather found out, he banned Surjeet has been a wonderful wife to me and a loving moth - me from school. Disheartened, I ran away from home. But my moth - er to our children Kamal, V irender , Amreek, Lovleen and er s tears brought me back. An agreement was arrived at: I studied Deepa. under a sant at a pathshala in the morning, and spent the afternoon I learnt acting on the sets: For my first shot in King Kong, I in the fields. had to rescue the heroine, Kumkum, from an animal, drop her I was caught lying and have never lied again: Once, in my en - on the ground violently, and fetch water. For the first five takes, thusiasm to study, I memorised lessons in advance, helped by my I placed Kumkum softly on the ground nobody was cousin. But contrary to my expectations, this only angered my guru . amused! Finally, I got my act right, but regretted that another To save my cousin from trouble, I lied that my mother had taught me person dubbed my voice. I took tuitions in Hindi, Urdu and Eng - these lessons; but he found out the truth and gave me the scolding lish to perfect my dialogue delivery. of my life. I learnt my most important lesson that day: never lie, come Heroines refused to work with me: For Samson And Delilah, the what may. film s producer just couldn t get an actress to agree to work with me. W restling fascinated me: W restling champions evoked awe at I found a heroine when Mumtaz, who had accompanied her sister to village melas and I nursed the ambition of becoming the top the sets of Hercules, agreed to do the role. Our jodi became a hit and we wrestler in India. But my family had neither the money for me to re - acted in around 10 films. Rustam-e-Rome, Rustam-e-Hind, Sher-e-Watan, ceive training in wrestling, nor the empathy to relate to my Balraj Shri Krishna and Aaya Toofan did well at the box-of fice. I was a busy dream. Undeterred, I practised and participated in small- actor specially because my secretary, Lalit Kumar, made me sign around time competitions. eight films a month! Child marriage killed my childhood: When I was nine, I am still recognised as Hanuman: As an actor, Ramayana gave me a second family feuds forced me to marry a girl five years older than lease of life at 60. Ramanand Sagar was convinced that only I could play Hanuman, me. I couldn t relate to her and the fights at home were unbearable. despite my insistence that he needed a younger person. Even today, when I am in a vil - My wife bore me a son Pradumbhan when I was 18, but the mar - lage, people see me as Hanuman and fall at my feet. But the best compliment I have riage ended in divorce. Those 10 years of my life were traumatic. For ever received is from a small boy who said that, whenever he thinks of Hanuman, my quite some time, I held my family responsible for making me the victim picture crosses his mind. of an impulsive decision. I couldn t spend time with my kids: More often than not, I was not at home when my I was in Singapore when India became independent: Mentally-dis - kids were growing up. Surjeet has done a really good job of bringing up the kids. turbed, I left for Singapore, where wrestling was a rage. Ironically , on Au - I never interfere in the lives of my children. When Kamal, my eldest daughter , be- gust 15, 1947, I was in Singapore, where I earned my living by loading came an air-hostess after studying law, I was taken aback, but respected her de - drums. Knowing my passion for wrestling, friends insisted that I enrol cision. Today, she is married to an American pilot and runs an aviation institute with for training and I joined an in - her husband in the US. AJIT NINAN stitute. For a year and a half, I will take self-respect and hu - friends bore the expenses for my SUN-SPE- mility to my grave: W ith age has IN FULL BLOOM! Rani Mukherjee, in town for the newly-opened Provogue pahelwan diet of milk, ghee, come humility. There will always Studio at Lajpat Nagar and the promotion of her upcoming release Chori Chori, badam, chicken and seasonal fruits and vegetables. be people more successful than me and vice versa. I shows Delhi Times what it takes to be a down-to-earth film star, at the Maurya W restling forced me to chop off my hair: I cycled 10 never felt special when I was a champion wrestler and Sheraton (To send this photograph to a friend, log on to w w w.timescity.com/delhi/ ) km to and from the institute every day. Still, this was the a film hero. This is why I don t feel disheartened when I easy part. My uncut hair came in the way of wrestling lead a relatively ordinary life today . The Gita says that and, as a sardar , my saddest moment came when I had man is born with nothing and dies with nothing. I hope to to get my hair cropped. My mother was heartbroken and be remembered as a man who earned respect and re - Queen bee or wrote a letter , asking me to parcel home my cut hair. spected others. I wasn t around My hard work paid off: W ithin three years of my be - [email protected] Humility stems coming a wrestler, I became the Malaysian champion by from knowing that there when my kids were defeating Trilok Singh. But I really gained recognition in not to be? Rani growing up; Surjeet India after defeating the Hungarian champion King Kong are people more in 1953. After that, there was no looking back. I became JYOTI SHARMA The scarlet tales in gossip columns ma - Times News Network ke her go crimson. Acting is what gives her the greatest buzz. And her dream role is to o frills. No flamboyance. Down-to-earth play the Rani of Jhansi on the silver screen.

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