By:
Screen
Weekly,
IndiaFM
Monday,
November
05,
2007
From
Dara
Singh
to
six-pack
SRK,
here"s
a
look
at
the
dare-bare
male
torso
on
the
silver
screen
Dara
Singh
Hrithik
Roshan
may
well
be
the
contemporary
Greek
God,
but
Dara
Singh
holds
the
distinction
of
playing
the
maximum
Greek
characters
in
Hindi
cinema
from
the
mythical
Samson
and
Hercules
to
the
historical
Alexander
(Sikandar-e-Azam,
1965).
Singh"s
ascendance
and
acceptance
creating
a
fan
following
of
his
own
in
numerous
solo
leads
happened
at
a
time
when
the
ideal
hero
material
was
defined
by
sensitive
and
slimmer
romantics
like
Dilip
Kumar,
Dev
Anand
and
Bharat
Bhushan
or
the
corpulent
but
agile
Kapoors
-
Raj
and
Shammi.
Needless
to
add,
while
the
latter
never
showed
skin,
Singh
didn"t
mind
reducing
to
his
briefs
in
two
Tarzan
films
and
as
the
original
Bahubali
-
the
most
favoured
on
screen
Hanuman
in
the
myriad
takes
on
Ramayan
-
a
role
he
successfully
repeated
well
past
his
prime
in
Ramanand
Sagar"s
popular
1980s" TV
series
on
the
epic.
Showstoppers:
Veer
Bhimsen,
Hercules,
Tarzan
and
King
Kong,
Sikandar-e-Azam,
Boxer
Dharmendra
From
one
Punjab
da
puttar
to
another;
if
Singh"s
brawn
bravado
was
limited
to
B-grade
flicks,
Dharmendra
brought
it
into
the
mainstream
hero"s
repertoire
with
his
shirtless
swagger
in
Phool
Aur
Patthar
(1966).
The
film"s
famous
scene
of
a
drunken
shirtless
Dharmendra
hovering
over
a
sleep
feigning
Meena
Kumari
in
restrained
anticipation
ranks
amongst
the
all
time
top
sexually
charged
scenes
in
Hindi
cinema.
As
regards
his
brawn
impact,
it"s
best
summed
by
dream
girl
Hema
Malini"s
oft
quoted
first
reaction
on
seeing
Dharmendra,
“I
had
never
seen
a
more
handsome
man
in
my
life
before." The
son
of
the
soil"s
rugged
brawn
appeal
lay
in
his
naturally
sculpted
body,
not
any
artificially
customised
gym
trained
six
packs.
Indeed,
they
don"t
make
it
like
him
anymore.
Showstoppers:
Haqeeqat,
Phool
Aur
Patthar,
Sholay,
Dharam
Veer,
Razia
Sultan
Vinod
Khanna
The
seventies
popularity
chart
at
the
top
may
have
swung
between
the
romantic
Rajesh
Khanna
(who
later
developed
a
slight
paunch)
and
the
angry
young
man
Amitabh
Bachchan,
but
Vinod
Khanna
easily
topped
the
torso
chart
when
it
came
to
having
a
fit
body
and
flaunting
it
to
the
full.
Remember
the
fight
in
the
dust
between
Amar
(Khanna)
and
Anthony
(Bachchan)
in
Amar,
Akbar,
Anthony
(1977).
For
once
the
voyeur"s
gaze
strayed
and
stayed
beyond
Bachchan
on
the
fast
climbing
challenger
to
the
action
hero
mantle.
While
the
lanky
Bachchan
rarely
shed
cloths
in
front
of
the
camera
apart
from
those
rare
bare-chested
shots
in
bed
with
Parveen
Babi
in
Deewar
or
Rekha
in
Silsila,
Khanna
continued
his
bare
show
well
past
his
prime
in
that
infamous
soaked
shower
lip
lock
with
a
shivering
nubile
Madhuri
Dixit
in
his
comeback
hit
Dayavan
(1988).
Showstoppers:
Mera
Gaon
Mera
Desh,
Amar
Akbar
Anthony,
Rajput,
Kshatriya,
Parampara
Sunny
Deol
Long
before
the
Bollywood
baba-wagon
had
begun
hitting
the
gym
with
a
vengeance
as
a
launch
essential
and
when
other
star
sons
were
still
lanky
debutants
(Kumar
Gaurav,
Sanjay
Dutt)
he
was
launched
with
a
well
proportioned
physique,
riding
on
sheer
brawn
bravado
in
Betaab
(1983),
thus
making
him
a
'fit" heir
to
Dharmendra"s
action
hero
mantle.
As
the
vest
became
his
trademark
attire
through
an
action
filled
eighties
and
nineties,
the
audience
not
only
cheered
but
sincerely
believed
when
he
talked
about
the
breaking
impact
of
his
'dhai
kilo
ka
haath"
in
Damini.
Undoubtedly
one
of
Bollywood"s
best
biceps
till
date!
Showstoppers:
Kshatriya,
Ghayal,
Narasimha,
Ghatak,
Gaddar
Ek
Prem
Katha
Sanjay
Dutt-Jackie
Shroff
One
of
the
first
hunk
pairs
from
the
muscled
nineties,
they
started
lean
but
beefed
up
their
act
as
per
the
need
of
their
times,
well
past
their
youth
to
extend
their
box
office
run
as
leading
action
heroes.
Little
wonder,
their
best
brawn
moment
onscreen
happened
nearly
a
decade
after
their
hit
launches,
when
pitted
opposite
each
other
in
a
hand
to
hand
combat
in
full
physical
glory
in
Khal
Nayak
(1993)
long
before
the
mock
WWF
fights
had
become
a
raze
on
TV.
Sanjay"s
Showstoppers:
Sadak,
Yalgaar,
Khal
Nayak,
Daud,
Vaastav
Jackie"s
Showstoppers:
Gardish,
Rangeela,
Aar
Ya
Paar,
Mission
Kashmir,
Agni
Varsha