Dara Singh’s son
Vindu candidly admits he has a half-brother and that he plans to carry forward his father’s legacy. He also plans to make a documentary on the legend whom he describes as a metaphor for strength and power.
“We are five siblings, actually six. My father has a son from another marriage. His first marriage happened when he was barely 14. My half-brother has always been a part of the family. In fact, he was there for all the rituals after my father’s death,” said Vindu.
Wrestler-actor Dara Singh died July 12 after brief illness. He was 84.
“In deference to my father’s wish, my half-brother has always been a part of the family. He will remain so. In fact, more so now with my father gone… in this family, we are very high on responsibilities. To this day I look after my ex-wife Farha Naaz and son Fateh although we separated long back,” he added.
Dara Singh’s family is a symbol of secularism.
“In our family, we respect and acknowledge all religion and my father encouraged every kind of culture and lifestyle in our family. My brother is married to a Gujarati. My sister is married to an American. I married a Muslim and now I’m married to a Christian.”
Vindu says his father was a genuinely good human being and “that’s why we aren’t mourning his going away”.
“My father went after living a full life. For the last four days, when he hovered between this world and that, the kind of response I got just blew my mind. In the last four days, there have been 2,00,000 tweets and after his death I have to respond to over a 1,000 SMSes as soon as I get breathing space.”
Vindoo says there is absolutely no hang-ups about being a giant’s son.
“Not at all. I am proud to be Dara Singh’s son. He was very proud of me, specially after I won on ‘Bigg Boss’ and started getting good work and making good money. He always encouraged his children to do what we wanted, never stopped us from doing anything. We were all allowed to fail once in our class exams. Because we had the freedom to fail, we never did….
“My dad wasn’t scared of dying. He was scared my mother (Surjeet Kaur) would go before him. ‘Mujhe chhod ke mat jaana,’ he told her some months ago. Now he’s gone leaving her behind. We need to look after her even more now.” Vindoo reveals he never moved out of the Dara Singh residence because all his siblings did.
“How could I leave my parents alone? If in their autumnal years they had to live alone what was the point of having so many children? I made a pledge to myself I’d stay with my parents, and I did.”
Now there’s a yearning to carry the father’s legacy forward.
Vindu is planning to put together his father’s amazing story in a documentary film and added: “It’s important to let future generations know what my father was all about. He always said, ‘I’ve made enough money for all you children to live comfortably forever. If you can’t build on my legacy don’t diminish it either.’ I’d like to carry his name forward. Dara Singh is a metaphor for strength and power. I’d like to think I can shoulder that legacy.” (IANS)
