Big Man, Big Heart

The journey of The Great Khali, India’s first WWE wrestler, is an astonishing one. SHANTANU GUHA RAY susses out the man behind the spectacle

STEVE CARELL, lead actor of Get Smart, once told an mtv.com reporter about a hulk on the sets who impressed everyone though he had a small role. “He could put his hand over your entire head and crush you. He’s a very sweet guy, but he did not speak English really well. I don’t even know if he was completely aware that he was doing a movie.” Carell was talking about The Great Khali, a former Mr India who briefly held, in 2007, the world champion’s title at the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly, the WWF).

Now an icon across the United States, he was India’s “champion bodybuilder” in 1997 and 1998. At seven feet, three inches, and weighing 190 kilos, he is the only Indian on the WWE bandwagon (there was Tiger Ali Singh signed up before him but Singh was from Canada). Now based in Atlanta, The Great Khali comes from Dhirana in Himachal Pradesh and old-timers in Shimla recall how one Dalip Singh Rana would toss luggage onto the carriers of buses with consummate ease. That was part-time work; his
full-time job was crushing stone for local contractors.

Eventually, he landed a job with the Punjab Police and later made it big in what the US doesn’t even recognise as a legitimate sport. That, however, hasn’t stopped WWE from rocking TV ratings in many countries where the shows are telecast. Khali was rather disappointed, two years ago, when he was not selected to go to Iraq. American entertainers, including Marilyn Monroe, have often visited warzones to cheer up the troops and Khali had hoped to go to Iraq when a sub-committee of the Pentagon put together a list of WWE wrestlers. Though his name was considered, Khali wasn’t on the final list. When he heard, he walked up to a huge map of India that hangs on his living room wall and prayed for two minutes. “He called to say that he’d prayed for better luck next time,” says Akhil Swami, a six-time international bodybuilding champion and Khali’s official spokesman and Man Friday based in Rewari, in Haryana.

Sports cognos centi believe Khali owes his success to the fact that he’s from India — a nation not known to be the best in boxing, armwrestling, bodybuilding or weightlifting. Yet, Khali is a master at all. “People in America just cannot imagine someone from India in the WWE ring. They are amused to see me perform,” says Khali during a telephone conversation, moderated by Swami. “I am happy with my performance and am getting some decent offers from Hollywood producers.” He likes spending time with his wife, Harminder Kaur, a trained motivator and homemaker. “Many people imagine me living in a fancy villa and driving expensive cars but I do none of that. I live in a simple home and don’t have the money to order a customized car that would fit my size,” says the wrestler.

In 1999, international doors began to open up for Dalip Singh Rana. He and Swami were once at the international airport in Delhi, waiting to receive Dorian Yates of England, who’d been Mr Olympia six times. Before Yates cleared immigration, he was amazed to see locals posing for pictures with Rana, mistaking him for Yates. “He will definitely go places if he maintains his physique,” Yates told Swami. Rana did not disappoint. When he was selected, Rana told his WWE mentors that the Goddess Kali is the one who evokes the most fear and scriptwriters invented a new name: The Great Khali was born, like The Diesel and The Undertaker, to participate in matches that are always fixed. The WWE brochure says, The Great Khali has traversed the Himalayas, fought with tigers and ruled the earth like a giant savage before descending on the WWE.

Khali laughs at such stories. A devotee of the religious preacher Ashutosh Maharaj, he is a vegetarian, a non-smoker and non-drinker. When he’s not performing, he is looking for old, unemployed destitutes near his home so he can bring them home-cooked food for them. Swami recollects a similar incident: many years ago on a wintry night in Rewari, Rana took off his big blanket and offered it to a shivering beggar. “He has a heart of gold,” says Swami.