Sunday, May 11, 2008

the great khali




i had never heard of this humongous persona till a few days back. he has been in the limelight for his wwe performances and has not received much admiration from his fraternity in india. the great khali as he is known has a massive chest and he is wellknown for his trademark black shirt.his height,weight and diet are in the fingertips of children who look up to him with great awe.the media attention he is getting is awesome.there is great hoopla surrounding his return to india.this ex punjab police officer was mr india in 1995 and 1996.he now lives in georgia,atlanta,usa.

while in school, i was briefly exposed to some boxing.when i watched a st xavier's vs la martiniere boxing match and saw my friend being repeatedly hit on the face by his opponent,i walked out and said to myself "enough is enough". a few years later while we were in kanpur on a short stay, i watched for a brief while a wrestling match betweem king kong and dara singh. i liked the spectacle of two heavily built persons fighting it out.compared to boxing,i thought this was more civilised. later i used to read occasionally about the exploits of mohammed ali and dara singh who later did some filmy roles.mohammed ali became incapacitated by a severe hit on his head.i wondered whether it was all worth it. but then it runs in the genes.his daughter has taken after him and seems to have achieved a certain class.

'asli hindustani ko harake dikhao,phir hum maanege ke tum bhi kuch cheez ho", says dara singh. (defeat a true hindustani wrestler,then we will accept that you are something), who believes that khali is no wrestler.he is only an entertainer.dara singh who dismisses the wwe rules of fighting,asks why khali has not accepted the challenges of indian wrestlers.palwinder singh cheema,rustom-e-hind and olympian champion has thrown the gauntlet."tab pata chalega ki kaun tagda hai".(then we will know who is tough).

irrespective of all these criticisms,khali is quite unfazed. he loves kids and the kids love him.he displayed his phenomenal strength by picking up street kids like matchsticks when he visited the ngo doorstep school.many children don't drink their milk unless they hear stories about khali. and many parents make their children watch the wwe shows and tell them that if they want muscles like khali they better drink up their milk. and it works according to the parents. khali is keen to see children pursuing wrestling as a hobby.however, he sounded a note of warning to the children."don't fight at home". carrying some kids on his hefty shoulders,he told them that he too was a fan of sachin tendulkar and shah rukh khan.

the 7'3,190 kg wrestler who is no dancer is now being made to dance to the tunes of choreographer pony verma.he is learning the punjabi bhangra and is still far away from rap or hip-hop.it's for khali's debut film aptly titled"kushti".(wrestling).bollywood now has a new star in the works. dalip singh rana.

3 comments:

Lotus Reads said...

Hi, gs!

I, too, didn't know about Khali until I saw him featured in a documentary on TV a few weeks ago...he had just lost a big tournament and he was in a rage about it. The commentator said he has an anger-problem and that has led to him being isolated by his trainer, manager etc. Not sure how much truth is in all of that but it's what I heard. I love the part about the children...I hope he can continue to be a good role model for them.

Nabeel said...

he's pretty cool and dedicated given where he's coming from. I like him a lot.

gs said...

hi nabeel
i agree.he is a great and cool guy.he has risen from the bottom and is a phenomenon now.