Randhawa (wrestler)

Randhawa (wrestler) Biography

Randhawa was a character artist of Bollywood yesterdays. He was a wrestler too, who played several henchman roles onscreen. Hailed from Amritsar, Punjab he was the younger brother of legendary wrestler and actor Dara Singh. He was married to younger sister of Mumtaz - Malika, a small time actor. Randhawa’s son too has appeared in a few movies, Shaad Randhawa, most notably his debut film, Woh Lamhe.

Randhawa’s full name is Saradara Singh Randhawa. He was born in Amritsar in 1933. Surat Singh and Balwant Kaur were his parents. Punjab is known for many wrestlers, and he too belonged to a family of wrestlers. His elder brother Dhara Singh was a legendary wrestler who won many international championships and appeared in a few movies and television serials, most notably as Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana. The siblings symbolized the real-life Ram and Laxman. Similar to his elder brother, Randhawa too got associated with both wrestling and acting, though he was not as famous as Dhara Singh. Yet he has done quite a few character roles on Bollywood screen.

Similar to his brother, he had a well-built body, and he started his wrestling career in Singapore in 1952. Since then he earned fame in this field. Dhara Singh became world champion and Randhawa becameIndian champion at the same time. Awara Abdulla (1963) was his film break, and since then he did several character roles on screen. He mostly appeared in negative shaded roles, as henchman etc, and was a part of Bollywood hits like Aadmi Aur Insaan, Johny Mera Naam, Andaz etc. He was also seen in Henna, Duplicate etc in the later years.

He married Bollywood actress Mumtaz’s sister, Malika. It’s mere co-incidence that his brother Dhara Singh and sister-in-law Mumtaz worked together in several hit B-grade action films in the mid-1960s, before Mumtaz turned a leading star. Only a few know that Mumtaz and Dhara Singh are close relatives, and it happened through Rhandawa’s marriage to Mumtaz’s sister in the 1970s or later. He died on 21 October 2013.

Published: N/A

Updated: November 10, 2017