Khali returns: from illiterate labourer to TV wrestling’s Indian poster-boy

From Dalip Singh Rana to Kaali and then the Great Khali, WWE’s Indian poster-boy, it’s been a dream journey from Dhaliana village in Una, Himachal Pradesh.

Jwala Ram, wooden logs on his shoulder, says height runs in his family. “My grandfather was three-to-four inches taller than Dalip and more strongly built,” he asserts as Dalip’s mother Tondi Devi tells you the wrestler’s secret of success lies in a simple diet of daal, roti, and eggs—in huge quantities. For Dalip, it wasn’t easy shooting up to such a height in a one-room hut with six siblings.

“Once he turned 15, it was difficult for him to enter the room and at times he used to sleep over at a friend’s place,” says Tondi Devi. Though unlettered, Dalip was naturally enterprising. From a stone-crushing labourer, he found a job as a security guard.

Dalip joined the force in Jalandhar under the sports quota as a constable. Though he joined as a sportsman, he had to struggle to find his sport. First, he tried basketball and was not agile enough for the game. He made a shot at shot put and failed.

Then, he was advised to take up body building. “Dalip’s only problem was that he had a strong upper portion but his thigh muscles were not very strong,” says Bhullar. Dalip was then spotted by Dr Hasthir Sharma, son of a former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Punjab. “Hasthir advised me to send Dilip to...