Dara Singh waived off most of his fee to work in Malayalam movie, only needed a room with 2 windows; but refused top lose a fight

Revealing that Sibi and Sreenivasan decided to cast Singh after the commencement of the shoot, Jagadish shared that he was entrusted with the duty of discussing the matter with the veteran wrestler. “Producer G Subramanian had told me that he was ready to pay Dara Singh a maximum of Rs 2 lakh. Upon reaching there, I narrated the story to Singh saab in English and Hindi. He liked the story and then started discussing remuneration. I told him, ‘Saab, don’t consider it as remuneration, but rather a token of our admiration. Don’t feel bad; we’ll give you Rs 25,000.’ Upon hearing that, he looked at me once. I thought he was going to use one of his wrestling moves on me. But he agreed to act in the movie for that money,” Jagadish shared.

Mentioning that they were quite concerned about where they would accommodate Dara Singh, considering that there weren’t many big hotels in the area, actor Mukesh, who played the lead role in Mutharamkunnu PO, revealed that the legendary athlete, however, was a simple human being who didn’t like much luxury. “I just need a room with two windows: one for the air to enter and the other to leave the room,” Mukesh recalled him saying. Sharing that they all assumed he would have to eat a lot to maintain his physique, the actor said that Singh, nonetheless, proved them wrong there as well and revealed that he was a vegetarian who ate only limited food. “I just need three chapatis, dal curry and some onions.”

‘Wrestling is a truthful sport’

Although he agreed to everything the movie’s team wanted, Dara Singh objected to one thing: the movie’s climax. Mutharamkunnu PO tells the story of a newly arrived postmaster (Mukesh) in a village who falls in love with the daughter (Lissy) of a retired wrestler (Nedumudi Venu). Upon learning about this, the latter challenges the postmaster to a duel with his friend, Dara Singh. In the initial script, the story ended with Singh deliberately conceding defeat so that the postmaster could unite with the love of his life. “Wrestling is a truthful sport,” he said, expressing his dissent. Since Singh was portraying himself in the film, this was something he couldn’t agree to. Mukesh noted, “There’s no concept of deliberately conceding defeat in wrestling.”

In an old interview with an English media outlet, Sibi Malayil also revealed how Dara Singh was initially opposed to the idea. Mentioning that the wrestler thought it was unethical on his part, the director said he, too, felt it was too much to expect him, a former world champion, to lose to a nobody, even if it was just in a movie. As a result, the climax of the film was altered in such a way that they could show Singh convincing Venu’s character to accept his daughter’s love.