Darasingh, 1964
Showcard, c. 1964, 55.5cm X 45.5cm
Tinted gelatin silver print and poster paint on board with screen-printed lettering.
"Dara Singh was the leading action star of the 1960s B-movie circuit. A former wrestler from Punjab, he played a range of muscle-man film roles of the muscleman, from Hercules to Tarzan. In B-movies, audience entertainment was the primary goal; stunts and stars mattered more than plot. In this showcard, Dara Singh is represented not by a close up of his face - as actors in other showcards - but by his wrestling body.
The film Darasingh: The Iron Man (1964) was produced by Gulshan Bahl and N. C. Films and directed by Kedar Kapoor. Music by Hansraj Bahl. Black and white, Hindi, starring Nishi, Jeevan, Dara Singh, Bakshi and Mohan Choti."
--Text by Dr. Deepali Dewan and Alexandra McCarter, based on Deepali Dewan, ed. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Showcards from The Hartwick Collection. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2011. Copyright of and reproduced here with the generous permission of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Literature
Deepali Dewan, ed. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Showcards from The Hartwick Collection. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2011, p. 74, Cat. no. 19.