Will have to work on physique to play role of Dara Singh, says Akshay Kumar

Actor Akshay Kumar says if he has to play the role of late wrestler-actor Dara Singh he will need to work a lot on his physique.

Akshay was present on Saturday at the book launch event Mumbai. The book titled 'Deedara aka Dara Singh' is authored by Seema Sonik Alimchand and published by Westland.

When asked if he will be ready to play Dara Singh in a movie, Akshay said, “Dara Singh had a great wrestler body, I will have to change my body for that. I will have to expand in size, have more chest wise. He was a huge man. I will have to justify him completely.”

“For this, I will require at-least two years to get that kind of bulk and look like a wrestler. If I don’t have too many films (and) Vindu (Dara Singh’s son) requests me several times then..,” said the actor.

Singh made a name in the field of professional wrestling and had over 500 professional fights to his credit, all undefeated. He announced his retirement from wrestling in 1983.

He had won the title of ‘Rustam-E-Punjab’ and ‘Rustam-e-Hind’ for his wrestling prowess.

The wrestling champion entered the film industry in 1952 with ‘Sangdil’ and did films like ‘Faulad (1963)’, ‘Darasingh:Ironman’ (1964), ‘Daku Mangal Singh (1966)’ and ‘Warrant’(1975).

He played the character of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s television series ‘Ramayan’.

He was last seen in Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Jab We Met’ in 2007 as Kareena Kapoor Khan’s grandfather.

Recounting his meeting with the wrestler as a kid, the Khiladi Kumar initially felt Singh had a ‘trishul’ mark on his back and even has a third eye (like Lord Shiva), which when opened destroys things.

Vindu, who was present at the event, joked about how he felt it was a curse being his son when it came to physique.

“I was weakest boy in the class in eight standard. I used to tell my father it’s a curse to be son of Dara Singh that everyone is making fun of me. Since class eight I started working on my body,” said Vindu.